The Potter Twins and the Not-so-Secret Chamber
by ScaleneGalleons
Summary: They're back for a second year at Hogwarts to shake up the very foundations of the old school. When a mysterious package arrives, not by owl or fireplace, during the summer break, the twins, along with Hermione and Ron, have to figure out what it means. This isn't even adding the problem of the 'Secret' Chamber. When the basilisk is on the loose, who's going to stop it? Them.
1. Summer

**{A/N: Chapter one: This is a sequel to Harry Potter and the Mysterious Sibling, just in case anybody didn't know. Anyways, this is a focus on their second year (obviously). There's a chamber****(which Melanie knows about, Hermione knows exists, Ron theorizes about, and Harry feels like it's there)****. There's a mysterious package. And above all, there's a basilisk. Second year, yay. :D Also, if you guys are interested, I wrote a one-shot in Ron's POV about Harry getting picked for the Triwizard tournament.**

**Disclaimer: Not J.K. Rowling. Wish I could be that famous. XD Can this just count for the rest of the story? If I do turn into J.K. Rowling out of some mystical power or something, I'll be sure to let you guys know.}**

Summer was exactly what Melanie thought it would be. Free child labour for Aunt Petunia, being ignored by Uncle Vernon, and Dudley screaming in fright every time either Harry or Melanie took a step towards him.

However entertaining it was to watch Dudley 'sprint' from the room, it did get a bit annoying to have him scream in terror whenever Melanie or Harry said or did anything. Thankfully, their cousin seemed to realize that breathing was just what they needed to do to live and not them hexing a nearby plant.

Well, at least they had each other.

"It's so hot today," Harry complained. He pouted childishly at Melanie, who seemed to be able to lower her temperature.

"Ha ha!" Even at twelve years of age, both of them still acted like a pair of five year olds fighting over a toy.

"You're so lucky," said Harry, pouting once more. Melanie laughed, shivering slightly at the cool breeze.

"There's the downside of being too cold in the summer, though." It was highly inconvenient how she got stared at wearing sweaters, whether it was in the winter or the summer.

"You can't really blame them. After all, they're expecting you to get heat stroke or frost bite." Even Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon had noticed; no matter how much they disliked the twins, they didn't want deaths because of them.

"Well, at least I don't need to change my wardrobe according to the seasons."

"That's the spirit! Now help me plant some of these flowers before I overheat."

They worked in silence, enjoying that Aunt Petunia wasn't there watching and criticizing. Just then, they heard a loud hoot from their house.

"Hedwig," Harry whispered. The two of them abandoned the flower seeds, running inside to make sure that their uncle wouldn't throttle the bored owl. At least Melanie's cat, Ash, could deal with staying inside and doing nothing all day.

"Fourth time this week!" Uncle Vernon roared.

_This is going to be a repeat of this morning's argument, isn't it?_ Melanie thought wearily. She looked at Harry, who gave an equally exasperated look back.

"She's-"

"- just bored." Melanie finished.

"She's used to-"

"-flying around. If-"

"-we could just let-"

"-Hedwig out at night-"

"Stop talking like that," Uncle Vernon snapped. "Do I look stupid?"

_Trick question; you always look stupid._

He continued talking. "I know what'll happen if I let that owl out."

"Yes," said Melanie, nodding. "She'll fly." Melanie flapped her arms as if she was trying to fly.

"Get back outside!" Aunt Petunia said, voice quivering when Harry turned to glare at her.

Reluctantly, the two went obeyed.

"Honestly, what does he think that the owl will do?"

"Probably get letters. It'd be the first ones that we got this summer, anyways." Harry's voice got bitter at the end.

Melanie nodded, trying to look angry instead of sympathetic. She knew why they weren't receiving any letters; Dobby.

The day that they'd come home, she had a dream about second year. To be honest, she was quite frightened. These first two years would be bad enough, but she had a feeling that things were only going to get worse.

_Honestly, they might as well turn Hogwarts into a tournament of death or something._

The Chamber of Secrets, or perhaps it could be named the Not-so-Secret Chamber this year. After all, she knew about it and was prepared to tell Harry.

If only that worked.

Whenever she opened her mouth to tell him about the approaching danger, it would snap shut and stay that way until she stopped trying to talk to him about that specific thing.

To add to her confusion, why did this year's memories come all at once? Last year, they happened in small bursts and then just ahead of the actual event. Plus, it seemed that she was the only one with memories about the upcoming year, as Harry told her that his alternate universe memories seemed to have disappeared.

"Mel?"

Shaking her head to clear it of premonitions, she looked up. "Yeah?"

He pointed into the bushes, and Melanie looked just in time to see two green eyes blink and disappear. "Dobby," she breathed.

"What was that, do you think?"

"Um... Maybe a stray cat or something?"

Harry looked doubtful. "Those eyes were rather big for a cat..."

"Get in here!" came the shrill voice of their aunt. Thankfully, they'd finished planting all the seeds.

Just this morning, they'd gotten a long lecture/been yelled at. It was all because of some stupid dinner party that Uncle Vernon was having, to kiss up to his boss.

"Get in here! And walk on the newspaper!"

They did what they were told, leaving two parallel sets of footprints on the newspapers. Even if there was enough amazingly prepared food for a family of ten (or two Dudleys), they were told to eat a few sad-looking pieces of bread and a block of cheese. The moment they finished, they were sent to their room to wait out the dinner in silence.

"Remember - one sound..." Uncle Vernon's threat hung in the air, dangling above their heads like a sharp knife.

Melanie and Harry ignored him, content to spend the night in their room anyways.

Melanie smirked as she saw Harry sit down on the bed, leaping up a second later as he realized there was already somebody there._If I do this carefully, maybe Dobby will leave._ When she saw Dobby's determined expression, however, all and any ideas of getting him out of their room quietly were banished from her mind.

As the two humans engaged in a staring contest with the house elf, they could hear Dudley saying, "May I take your coats, Mr. and Mrs. Mason?" followed by the two adults gushing over his manners.

Dobby slipped off the bed and bowed so low to Harry that his long nose touched the ground.

"Er... Hello," said Harry, fidgeting with his fingers nervously.

"Harry Potter! So long has Dobby wanted to meet you, sir... Such an honour it is..."

Melanie giggled as Harry stepped back, flattening himself against the wall. Sure, in the face of Voldemort, he was brave enough to yell at him, but confronted with a small, elvish creature, he was scared.

"Dobby, sir. Just Dobby. Dobby the house-elf."

Melanie sat down on the bed, having expected this. Beside Harry, she was just the extra Potter who hadn't done anything that was particularly amazing. Even though she'd been there with Harry when the Stone was taken, she might've been the wall for all the recognition she got.

Dobby burst into tears, but all Melanie did was think about the basilisk.

She'd have to bring a mirror to school this year... Did she even have a mirror? What if she walked around with a bowl of water? That'd probably be even stranger than carrying around a mirror... At least she could explain the mirror by saying that she was having a bad hair day... Bad hair year. Maybe she could get some other girls to carry mirrors by telling them their hair looked messier than the nests in the Owlery. If it saved a few people, it'd be worth the angry glares.

_It's sick how wizards treat their house-elves._ She looked at Dobby's various bandages and felt a pang of sympathy. It was the Malfoy's fault, but it was also the fault of everybody that could stop this but chose not to. She winced as Dobby had to punish himself by slamming his head against the wall.

"Harry, somebody's coming up here," Melanie whispered.

"Quick, get into the closet!" Without waiting for an answer, he dragged Dobby into the closet and closed the door. A second later, Uncle Vernon entered the room.

"What - the - devil - are - you - doing? You've just ruined the punch line of my Japanese golfer joke! One more sound and you'll wish you'd never been born!" Even if the threat was directed to both of them, it felt like Uncle Vernon was mainly talking to Harry.

"Sorry, uncle. I... fell." She saw Harry raise an eyebrow out of the corner of her eye. _I don't see you coming up with any excuses!_

Their uncle stomped flat footed out of the room, only stopping when he reached the stairs. Melanie could hear him clearing his throat and walking lightly down the stairs, back to their company.

Maybe she should steal a hand mirror from her aunt? Well, that's if Aunt Petunia had one. _If anything, I could just steal a broken piece from the mirrors the troll broke last year. I hope nobody cleared that up..._

Her thoughts of a pair of yellow eyes stopped as Dobby darted out of the room, followed by a panicked Harry.

Melanie sighed, got up, and ran after them. She saw Dobby crouched on a cupboard in the corner of the kitchen, hovering the pudding that Aunt Petunia had spent the entire afternoon making.

"No. Please... they'll kill me."

"Dobby, stop." She hoped for a second that a direct order might stop the house-elf.

"Harry Potter must say he's not going back to school-"

"Dobby, please-"

"Say it, sir-"

"I can't-"

"Then I must do it, sir, for Harry Potter's own good."

Time seemed to slow down as the pudding fell, and Dobby disappeared.

"No!" whispered Harry. He dived forward, trying to catch the dessert.

Somehow, the cake was suspended in midair. It looked like it was caught on an air current. _This wasn't supposed to happen... Now Harry'll get in more trouble for magic!_

Because of this air current magic, Harry managed to place his hands under the pudding and hold it. This, however, attracted the attention of the people sitting in the dining room. They'd heard Harry dive onto the floor and rushed in to see what the noise was. They saw Melanie watching from behind a wall and Harry frozen in the kitchen, holding the dessert and caught like a deer in the headlights.

Stepping forwards, Melanie forced a bright smile onto her face and said, "Uncle! We're here to help."

Her uncle was obviously desperate for an excuse for he latched onto the story. "Ah, yes. Thank you." He grit out the thanks as if it was poison.

"And who are these two children?" asked Mrs. Mason.

Aunt Petunia gritted her teeth in a smile. "Oh, just my darling niece and nephew."

"Where have they been all this time?" Mr. Mason wasn't a stupid man. His eyes took in their ragged clothes and uncomfortable expressions in comparison to Dudley's brand new clothing and 'cat-who-ate-the-canary' expression.

"Oh. Um, Harry had a small headache just a few minutes ago, and I was upstairs with him to keep him company. Isn't that right, Harry?" Melanie stood beside him and nudged his arm, nearly making him drop the pudding.

"Yes. Yes, I had a headache and that's why I wasn't here." At Mrs. Mason's worried expression, he added, "But it's all better now, and I just wanted to help my aunt and uncle."

They might've even pulled it off - if the owl hadn't arrived.

Just as Harry placed the dessert back onto the table and was about to dump some into a few plates, a huge barn owl flew in through the dining room window, dropped a letter on Mrs. Mason's head, and swooped out again. Mrs. Mason did a fairly good impression of a banshee and ran out of the room. Mr. Mason fixed Uncle Vernon under a fierce glare and asked if his was his idea of a joke because it wasn't funny and how would he think that Mrs. Mason would take it with her fear of birds.

The dinner party was over.

Uncle Vernon grabbed the letter and read it through. When he was done reading, he stomped up to Harry and shoved the letter in his face.

"Read it," he said angrily.

Melanie knew what the letter was, as well as what would be happening, but couldn't suppress the jolt of fear she felt when she saw her uncle's expression.

"You didn't tell us you weren't allowed to use magic outside of school. Forgot to mention it... Slipped your mind, I daresay." They all knew very well that this fact hadn't slipped neither Harry nor Melanie's mind.

"Well, I've got news for you, boy... I'm locking you up... You're never going back to that school... never... and if you try and magic yourself out - they'll expel you!"

He dragged Harry back upstairs, telling Melanie to follow behind. _Huh… I guess the letter blamed Harry. Maybe they forgot I live here._

"You two stay in this room, and if I hear even a peep..." His threat as unfinished and the two lay down side by side, asleep uneasily within a few minutes.

**{A/N First chapter done. What did you think? I was going to put it up this weekend, but then I was just like 'why not today?'}**

**~ScaleneGalleons~**


	2. The Burrow

**{A/N Chapter Two. Thanks to That Elusive Reader (Maybe it was Melanie that did something? Hmm? XD) and Dazer95 (Aw shucks. Thanks! :D) for reviewing. Glad you guys enjoy reading my story. Reviews help encourage me to write faster *hint hint*. Anyways, onto the actual chapter. **

**Still don't own Harry Potter.}**

"He's insane!" whispered Melanie the next morning. A man had been paid to fit bars over their window, and Vernon himself had fitted a cat flap in the bedroom door. Harry was told that he would be let out twice a day, but not about what would happen to Melanie.

They found out soon enough when Aunt Petunia came in and dragged her out of the room.

"Since your brother is going to be locked in his room, you'll have to do both of your lists of chores." Melanie was handed an actual list of chores; two pieces of paper stapled together and filled with dozens of things to do.

Melanie dared to ask a question. "How long is Harry going to be locked in his room?"

She received no answer and decided with one more parting shot before she went outside to mow the lawn. "You would do this to your sister's children?" And she ran before her aunt could respond.

**She's jealous of Lily.**

Melanie jumped a foot into the air, literally, before she realized that she recognized the voice.

_Steven?_

**Yes?**

_Don't scare me like that!_

**Don't jump suddenly, then. It's very disorientating.**

_I wouldn't have to jump if you didn't scare me._

Steven laughed.**Don't worry about Harry; his friend, Ron, will be here in a few days.**

_I know that,_ she snapped. _Any advice for the meantime?_

**Make sure he gets food and guilt your aunt as much as possible.**

She managed to finish mowing the lawn, weeding the garden, and watering the flowers before lunch.

Harry wasn't the only one being fed horrible food. Their food was coming from a can meant for one person and split between her, Harry, Ash, and Hedwig.

"Yum..." she muttered sarcastically. Aunt Petunia split the food, and Melanie ended up with a larger portion than the one split between three appetites.

"I hope Harry doesn't starve," she said louder, directing a glare at her aunt, who pursed her lips and said nothing._Probably wants to make sure that her worker doesn't starve,_ Melanie thought bitterly as she ate another spoonful of soup.

"Hurry up and finish! You have more work to do!" Melanie sighed, wondering if Aunt Petunia was trying to work her to death.

Crossing off three chores, she sighed again at the long list. _This is going to be a long day..._

~.~.~.~.~

"Harry," Melanie whispered. Harry blinker blearily to wake himself up.

"What?"

"Get ready; Ron's going to be here soon." Apparently, she was 'allowed' to talk about Ron coming to 'kidnap' them, but not anything else about this year, which was extremely frustrating.

Harry blinked repeatedly. "Right."

Lack of food was starting to get to him. Even if Melanie stole eggs from the kitchen to cook upstairs, it wasn't enough to feed all four of them. Harry told her that he spent all day sleeping and staring at the walls.

For the past three days, the two of them had been separated by giving Melanie a mile long list of chores and locking Harry inside his room. They only had time to talk when Melanie was allowed to go to sleep, and almost no time even then. Melanie was so exhausted from working all day that she fell asleep almost immediately. Harry, on the other hand, stayed awake for a long time.

Harry grabbed Hedwig and Melanie, Ash. Both pets were brought over to the window and sat in a temporary peace, realizing that something was happening.

"All our stuff's in the cupboard," Harry whispered.

"Don't worry. The Weasley twins know how to pick locks." As if on cue, Ron appeared just outside their window.

"Ron!" Instead of sounding surprised, Harry sounded relieved.

"All right, Harry?" George asked.

"Can you lecture Harry later?" Melanie said when she saw Ron's mouth open. He nodded and told his brothers to get the bars off.

"Tie that around the bars," Fred ordered Harry. He obliged, and Melanie pulled a pen and paper out from under her mattress.

Dear Uncle and Aunt,

Harry and I will be at a friend's place for the remainder of the summer. We will not require anything from you, but will have taken our stuff from out of the closet.

Aren't you glad to get rid of us so early?

See you next summer (unfortunately),

Melanie

She placed the letter on her bed and tucked the pen behind her ear (perhaps Mr. Weasley would like to examine it), just as the bars were ripped away from the window. Everybody went dead silent as they waited to make sure that none of the Dursleys had been woken by the sound.

When the bars were secured in the back seat with Ron, Fred reversed the flying car towards the window.

"Our stuff is locked in the cupboard under the stairs," whispered Harry.

"No problem," said George, hopping into their room. "Show us the way."

George pulled a Muggle hairpin from his pocket and began picking the lock.

"A lot of wizards think it's a waste of time, knowing this sort of Muggle trick, but we feel they're skills worth learning, even if they are a bit slow."

"You were right," Harry said to Melanie when the lock opened with a click.

"When am I not?" She turned to Fred and George and asked, "Could you two teach me that?"

They smiled, anticipating a new mischief-maker. "Sure," they said together. Between the four of them, they managed to, awkwardly, carry all the stuff.

Before they knew it, the four of them had loaded the trunks into the flying car, along with an angry cat. Hedwig flew beside the car happily.

As soon as they were safely in the air, Ron explained how he knew what was happening.

"I knew something was up when you didn't answer any of my letters. I've asked you to stay over about twelve times, and then dad came home and said you'd got an official warning for using magic in front of Muggles-"

That was when Harry interrupted him and assured them that he hadn't used magic, it was just a crazy house-elf who levitated a pudding to try and stop Harry from going back to Hogwarts.

That was when Melanie added that it was her who came up with the brilliant idea that got them out of trouble until the darned owl decided to ruin everything and didn't the Ministry of Magic technically use magic in front of those Muggles because of the owl?

"Wow," said Fred appreciatively.

"You've had a hell of a summer," finished George.

They landed the car on the property of the Burrow and both of the Potters looked at Ron's house for the first time.

It was so obviously magic. Perhaps the building had once been a large barn or something, but extra rooms had been added haphazardly all around. Four or five chimneys had been placed on the red roof, looking as if somebody had just dropped them on. A lopsided sign declaring that this place was the Burrow had been stuck in the lawn, near the entrance. Several chickens were pecking around the grass, and Melanie was sure that she saw something stalking them.

"It's not much," Ron said, looking a bit embarrassed.

"It's wonderful," Harry said at the same time that Melanie declared, "It's fantastic."

"Now, we'll go upstairs really quietly, and wait for mum to call us for breakfast. Then, Ron, you come bounding downstairs going, 'Mum, look who turned up in the night!' and she'll be all pleased to see Harry and Melanie and no one need ever know we flew the car." Fred looked proud of his plan, which had more holes in it than Swiss cheese.

_Well, it's practically five in the morning. I suppose that's the best he could come up with. Not that it's gonna work..._

"Right," said Ron, stifling a yawn. "Come on, Harry, I sleep at the - at the top..."

He turned a shade of green and his ears went red. The other four wheeled around to look at the house.

Standing there, in front of the house, looking furious, was Mrs. Weasley.

Melanie watched as she yelled at her sons and compared this woman with her aunt.

Never had she seen or heard Aunt Petunia yell at Dudley, not even when he'd been caught throwing rocks at passing cars. This wasn't because she couldn't yell. Oh, no. She exercised her vocal chords daily at Melanie and Harry.

Mrs. Weasley, on the other hand, yelled. Because Ron and the twins didn't look overly surprised to see how angry their mom was, thought looking slightly scared, Melanie assumed that being yelled at for doing something bad or dangerous wasn't uncommon. The way she yelled wasn't mean, like Melanie's aunt. It was strict and she could hear the barely suppressed, 'You scared me; what if you hadn't made it back?' in her voice.

What proved to be the biggest difference, however, was how Mrs. Weasley welcomed Harry and Melanie into their home instantly.

When the twins were brought up to their pigsty of a room and Harry into Ron's, Mrs. Weasley said, "I'm so sorry, dear, about not sending you anything for Christmas. It's just that..." Here she trailed off uncomfortably, but Melanie could guess what she would've said.

"It was just that you didn't know that the famous Harry Potter had a twin." When Mrs. Weasley protested, Melanie laughed and said, "It's alright. Not many people seem to know that. I bet you also didn't know that I was with Harry when he saved the Stone, and that I helped him?" The mother's expression was answer enough.

"Ginny!" Mrs. Weasley rapped her knuckles on the door in front of them.

A sleepy redheaded girl opened it a moment later. "What, mum?" She looked at Melanie, confused. "Is that one of our relatives or something?"

_Two people have now mistaken me for a Weasley, and one of them is a Weasley!_

"No, Ginny. This is-"

"Wait," said Ginny, looking closer at Melanie. Her face flushed a red to match her hair. "You're not..."

"Melanie Potter? Sister of Harry Potter, the Boy-Who-Lived?" At Ginny's nod, Melanie mock-bowed. "The one and only."

Ginny's face went impossibly red. "Oh... Erm, mum?"

"Ginny, Melanie is going to be staying in your room for the remainder of the summer. Melanie, we'll just - there you go!" A small bed had been conjured on the opposite side of the room as Ginny's. "I'll just leave you two to get acquainted. Come down for some breakfast soon." And the Weasley matriarch went back downstairs.

"Hello. Ginny, right?" The younger girl nodded. "I know you're not mute..."

"Is Harry here?" Ginny's voice was definitely higher than before. Melanie nodded, and Ginny's face, which was starting to turn back to its regular colour, was flushed red again.

"What?" Melanie searched her memories, mentally berating herself for not understanding sooner. "Oh, I see." Melanie waggled her eyebrows. "You like Harry."

Thankfully, Ginny was saved from having to answer when they heard Mrs. Weasley start yelling again, from the kitchen this time.

"Can't miss the entertainment, can we?" Ginny escaped Melanie's searching eyes and dashed downstairs.

"And you!" Mrs. Weasley could be heard as they went downstairs. Ginny let out a squeak as she saw Harry, self-consciously covering her nightdress.

Ron whispered something in Harry's ear, which Fred heard. He took the opportunity to embarrass Ginny.

"Yeah, she'll be wanting your autograph Harry." Nobody except Melanie noticed how Harry blushed slightly at those words, still not used to his fame. Fred's expression changed suddenly. "Blimey, I'm tired. I think I'll go to bed and-"

"You will not. It's your own fault you've been up all night." As she was talking, she piled food onto Melanie and Harry's plates. "You're going to de-gnome the garden for me; they're getting completely out of hand again-"

"Oh, mum-"

"And you two," she rounded on George and Ron. "You can go up to bed, dearies. You didn't ask them to fly that wretched car," she added to Harry and Melanie.

While Harry volunteered to go help, Melanie actually wanted to sleep. She was the one, after all, who had spent the last few days doing their combined list of chores.

This conjured bed was practically a bed of feathers compared to the lumpy, stiff mattress at the Dursleys. This meant that Melanie fell asleep within seconds.

**_~Another summer. Forced to do homework in the dead of the night. Ron calling the telephone at the Dursleys. Aunt Marge coming to visit. Harry forced to sit through the dinners until he snapped and inflated their other aunt. Running away from Privet Drive. Tripping over something and getting taken by the Knight Bus to the Leaky Cauldron. Sirius Black... Not getting in trouble with the Ministry for 'blowing up' a Muggle. Spending the rest of the summer break in Diagon Alley. Boarding on the Hogwarts express for another year. The train stopped; something's wrong, something's wrong._**

**_Darkness... So cold so cold so cold so cold - Who's screaming? - so cold so cold so cold-~_**

**{A/N Kinda a cliffie? Not really… I'm probably going to make the chapters longer than the first year chapters. Once we get to Hogwarts, there'll be more Hermione and Ron chapters (hopefully).}**

**~ScaleneGalleons~**


	3. Package

**{A/N Chapter Three. Thanks to That Elusive Reader (Poor Ginny. XD She has to deal with her crush on Harry. Whenever I write, every paragraph, there's an underlined word because it's Harry Potter. -_- It bugs me to no end) and Dazer95 (Thanks! :3) for reviewing again. TY!}**

Melanie woke up abruptly. _What the hell was that?_

She got off her bed, looking around the room. It seemed that she'd slept through the entire morning. Ginny's bed was made, and Melanie could hear noise coming from the kitchen.

Shivering, she opened her trunk. Inside was a small journal she kept, although she was careful to have asked Hermione to spell the journal so that nobody could read what was written except for her. Quickly, she jotted down what she remembered from her dream _(probably a prophetic dream...)_ and shivered again. Her insides felt frozen.

Beside it, in the margins _(Muggle notebooks are so organized)_, she wrote down two words.

Third year?

As if her day couldn't get stranger... She'd already escaped her house and dreamed two years into the future.

After lunch, she joined Ron and Harry in their room. (Melanie did feel bad for Ginny, but maybe if the young Weasley realized how shy she was being, Ginny would end up talking to Harry.) They were mainly talking about the Philosopher's Stone and whether or not Voldemort was going to come back (yes), and how the Flamels were doing (dead), and theorizing how the next year was going to be (more exciting/eventful than the last).

It was pretty calm until a bright, white light filled the room.

"Did we just die?" Harry asked. "Ouch!" He glared reproachfully at his sister.

"If you were dead, you wouldn't feel pain," Melanie pointed out, which was her reason for punching Harry just a second ago.

"What do you think that is?" Ron asked, pointing at a small parcel in the middle of the room, which had been the cause of the light.

"Do you think it's cursed or something?" Melanie tentatively reached a hand towards it, only to retreat when it glowed brightly.

Ron paced around the parcel, examining it from different angles. "It doesn't look dangerous. Wrapped in brown paper, almost impossibly neatly wrapped. Maybe somebody's mum wrapped it. The string has an easy-to-undo knot on it, which means that it should be opened right away so the knot doesn't fall apart. Um... It doesn't look cursed?"

"But you can't see curses," reasoned Melanie.

The package was radiating magic, which was enough to make them suspicious that the package was cursed.

Harry stepped forwards and grabbed the package. "No curses. You were right, Ron."

"Harry, you idiot!" they both shouted at once.

"Do you know how lucky you are?" Melanie started.

Ron continued. "What if there was a curse or a hex on it?"

"I thought being a Slytherin meant that you weren't RECKLESS?"

"You two are worse than Fred and George. Now, come on. I know you want to see what's inside this as badly as I do."

Cautiously, the other two sat near Harry as he undid the knot. Slowly, he took off the paper covering the box. One. Side. At. A. Time.

"Harry, don't do it so slowly." Melanie reached over and plucked off the paper in one swift motion.

"Fine, fine."

Under the paper was a box. The three of them leaned in to peer into the box. Inside was a note covering something. Four somethings.

"'Dear whomever this may concern,'" Harry read out. "'Inside this box are four bracelets. This box has been passed on as necessary and will continue to be passed on. In the event that it doesn't get given to others, chaos ensues.'"

"That's..."

"Bad?" Melanie suggested. Ron nodded, gesturing for Harry to continue reading.

"'Despite what you may think, this was not sent to the wrong people. However, only when Four are present will they work.' And then it just ends; it's not signed from anybody or anything." Harry turned the letter over, trying to find a back. "Nothing."

"What is that supposed to mean? 'Only when four are present will they work,'" Ron wondered.

Melanie reached into the box, pulling out four bracelets. They were all different colours and styles.

One was made from gold and had a piece of amber at the top. Another was made from silver and had a piece of moonstone at the top. Of the other two, one was made from jade with an emerald and the other was made from a silver-blue metal with a sapphire.

"Wow." Melanie touched the amber gem in the middle and it lit up.

Ron raised an eyebrow. "Not really a boy's favourite thing-"

"But still... Wow," Harry finished.

"Ronnikins! Mum says to go help her clean up!" George's voice from outside the door startled the three inside the room.

"Yeah, coming." To Harry and Melanie, he whispered, "Hide these; if Fred or George find them..."

That was warning enough for Melanie, who went to her room to get her Muggle knapsack. It was one that Aunt Petunia had bought for Dudley, who'd rejected it for looking too girly (really? It was just light blue). It had been abandoned in the cupboard under the stairs (where Dudley liked to abandon most of his stuff) until Melanie had stolen it and tucked it into her trunk. Currently, there were a few changes of clothes in it as well as some dry food and water. She'd packed it at the beginning of the summer, just in case.

On top of a sweater, she put the four bracelets and covered it with a pack of crackers.

~.~.~.~.~

"D-dia-gon Alley."

_Oh, Harry_. Now he'd end up in Knockturn Alley and spy on the Malfoys. That wouldn't be good for their friendship at all. Melanie sighed.

"Oh dear," fretted Mrs. Weasley.

Ron laughed. "D-dia-gon Alley? Harry's so good at talking."

"Melanie, dear, be careful." Mrs. Weasley handed over the bowl.

_At least I won't be choked by the ash..._

She tossed a handful of Floo powder into the fireplace. "Diagon Alley!"

It was nice and cozy in the fire. Until she started actually travelling.

"Never again," she muttered as she fell, face first, onto the ground. Melanie rolled out of the way as Ron came through the fire, followed by his parents, Ginny, Fred, George, and Percy.

Mr. Weasley looked around Melanie. "Where's Harry?"

"Not here..." Those two words created panic.

"Harry!" Mrs. Weasley called, as if Harry had traveled out of midair instead a bit further from them.

"You know where Harry is," Ron whispered in Melanie's ear. She debated what she should say, eventually deciding on the truth.

"Knockturn Alley."

"How do you know?"

_Because I somehow have his memories._ Of course, she couldn't say that out loud. Instead, she mumbled, "I can't tell you." At Ron's hurt look _(It's not that I don't trust you!), _she added, "I literally can't tell you."

"Fine." His voice clearly expressed that he would ask again later.

The two stood off to the side as the rest of Ron's parents frantically searched for Harry. Fred and George were busy laughing about how Harry got lost in a chimney while Ginny alternated between standing on her toes looking for Harry and biting her nails in worry.

"How much longer is this going to take?" Ron asked Melanie.

"Harry!" Mrs. Weasley shouted.

"Found him," said Melanie, walking in the direction of where they heard the shout.

"Oh, Hermione's here too," noted Ron. "Knockturn Alley?" Ron asked Harry, who nodded in surprise.

"Yeah. How'd you know?"

Ron nudged Melanie, who looked at a nearby window to avoid Harry's questioning look.

"Oh, Harry - oh, my dear - you could have been anywhere-"

"I'm alright, Mrs. Weasley." He held out his broken glasses, which Mr. Weasley fixed with a quick spell.

As they started walking again, Harry said, "Guess who I saw in Borgin and Burkes?"

"I bet Melanie knows," Ron said.

"Um... Lucius and Draco," she admitted reluctantly. The other three opened their mouths to say something, only to be cut off by Mr. Weasley.

"Did Lucius Malfoy buy anything?"

"No, he was selling-"

"So he's worried. Oh, I'd love to get Lucius Malfoy for something-"

"You be careful, Arthur; that family's trouble. Don't go biting off more than you can chew-"

"So you don't think I'm a match for Lucius Malfoy?" Before he could continue with his 'I can beat that Malfoy' rant, Hermione's parents came. Mr. Weasley found great joy in the fact that they were Muggles. Just as he started exclaiming over the Muggle money, the Weasleys and Potters were led further into Gringotts by a goblin.

Even though Melanie knew that the Weasleys weren't rich, she couldn't help but feel a large pang of sympathy as she saw their meagre pile of money, and another one as she scooped up a pile, about as large as what they had in the bank, without making a dent in the Potter fortune.

As they went outside into the streets of Diagon Alley again, they all split up. But not before Melanie managed to slip a few Sickles and Knuts into Mrs. Weasleys bag of money. Thankfully, nobody noticed.

Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Melanie strolled along the winding street. They admired various items and exclaimed over the amazing displays of magic in the joke shops.

Before long, the sun beating down on their heads had encouraged them to go to Florean Flortesque's Ice Cream Parlour, where Melanie and Harry treated the four of them to ice cream.

"Oh, yeah. We haven't told Hermione about the," Melanie circled on of her hands around her wrist.

"Ah. Right."

"Speaking of which," Harry said, "we haven't even told her about our summer. He launched into the story of the 'Pudding of Doom,' as he had named it, up until when they got the four bracelets, which were all in Melanie's knapsack.

When Harry was done narrating, and Hermione finished doubting his story, Ron turned on Melanie again. "You still haven't explained how you knew Harry was in Knockturn Alley. Or how you knew who he saw in Borgin and Burkes. Or how-"

"I get it, Ron," Melanie interrupted.

She took a deep breath, not sure if she _could_ tell them.

In that instant, everybody stopped staring the Boy-Who-Lived. For once, when they could tell that the four Hogwarts students were having a private conservation, they stopped snooping. For once, they respected Harry's privacy. The customers stopped glancing at their table in the corner and passerbys stopped ducking their head in to get a look at Harry.

For one moment, it was private.

Then, the four of them started glowing. They stopped seeing what was in front of them. Instead, they saw colours. Four colours to be exact.

Orange, blue, green, and grey swirled around in front of their eyes.

They could hear crickets chirping, birds chirping, wolves howling, and various other animal noises. Water was trickling and crashing onto rocks. Wind was racing through leaves. There was a crackling sound which sounded like fire on logs.

The smell was less confusing, just a simple smell of salty seas, and something burning.

Although this took only a second in real life, it felt like they had spent a day hearing, smelling and seeing. As they returned back to reality, each of them felt a strong burning feeling on their left arms.

"What?" That was all Harry could say. The other three were busy trying to scratch the burning sensation away, especially Melanie, who wasn't used to feeling that (the other four had to constantly be careful when getting near her in the winter).

They were starting to get looking weird looks from the other customers because of their scratching. Thankfully, none of them saw the glowing light.

Hermione gasped as something started to take form around her wrist. "What is this?"

Now, none of them could scratch their arms. There was an invisible shield which prevented their hands from going within a few inches of their arm.

"This is so weird..." Melanie sighed in relief when the burning faded.

On their arms were the four bracelets.

Hermione tilted her head to the left. "Isn't this what you guys said you got in the package?"

Melanie nodded, examining her bracelet. It was the gold and amber one that lit up when she touched it. Now that she had no fear of it being cursed, Melanie examined it closely.

The amber wasn't one solid red-orange colour like she'd assumed. It was patchy with more red and more orange parts throughout. There were small specks of black, which Melanie hoped wasn't a family of bugs. The gold surrounded the gem and banded around her arm. The part around the amber looked like... _Flames licking up something..._

"I think mine is supposed to be fire?" She held out her left wrist for them to see.

"If yours is fire, what are ours supposed to be?" Hermione tapped her as if that would answer the question.

Even though they were all designed similarly, Harry and Ron's were thicker than the other two though they hadn't been when they had received them in the box._ Probably because they would complain if it looked too girly. Maybe it does that automatically._

Ron looked out the door and squinted. "We should probably go meet the others in the book shop."

"What if my parents see this?" Hermione gestured to her green bracelet. "I wish this was a necklace instead."

It glowed and relocated around her neck.

"Awesome," said Ron.

In a few seconds, the four bracelets turned into four necklaces, which were much easier to tuck under their shirts.

"Let's go," said Harry, leading the way to the book shop.

**{A/N They got the strange package that I talked about in the summary. Yay? It's a bit strange, I suppose, but it's all leading up to the overall plot. I feel like I'm saying that a lot. XD}**

**~ScaleneGalleons~**


	4. Back to Hogwarts

**{A/N Chapter Four. I'm trying to put out more chapters since it's March break and I have time to write. Thanks to Pearl Bramble of Willowbottom for reviewing. I know I didn't tell why all those things happened in the first story, but I'm trying to reveal it little by little instead of at the beginning. Anyways, onto the chapter!**

**Still not J.K. Rowling... D:}**

Melanie was in the yard of the Burrow, fuming over the past day.

"Damn it!" She threw a Gilderoy Lockhart book across the yard (it was a waste of paper anyways).

"I was so close." She'd been ready. When Lucius Malfoy had taken Ginny's book and thrown it back into her cauldron, Melanie had been ready to take the diary out of it. She'd even reached into the cauldron and almost got the diary out before her entire body seized up.

She could tell that it was the same as when she hadn't been 'allowed' to tell Harry about second year. Melanie had frozen in mid-take before something happened and her hand was back beside her. Then, she was walking, her body ignoring her want to get the diary away.

It was creepy, to say the least.

She'd almost saved Ginny from being possessed by a sixteen year old Tom Riddle. Almost.

She picked up the book, throwing it at a tree trunk. It hit the bark with a loud crack and fell onto the ground, into a puddle of mud.

"Destroying your books?"

Melanie turned around to face Ron. _He has that look on his face... He's going to ask me again._

She scoffed, trying to act calm. "It's not like they're much use anyways."

"Don't you just love Lockhart?!" Ron imitated a voice that sounded suspiciously like his mother's.

"He's all hair and smiles but nothing to back it up. I don't even think he did any of the things he claimed."

Ron laughed for a second, and then turned back to Melanie with a curious gaze. "How did you know?"

She opened her mouth, hoping that a quick decision might work. No such luck. Her mouth snapped shut again. Melanie stood like that for a few moments, eventually relenting not to tell Ron.

"Ron, I literally can't tell you."

"What do you mean 'you can't tell me?'"

"I mean what I said: I can't." Ron stared with a strange expression on his face at her for another minute before nodding and going back to his room.

~.~.~.~.~

The end of the summer break approached much, much faster than it usually did. Harry and Melanie typically felt more comfortable during the school year, when the only person they had to avoid was Dudley instead of the entire Dursley family.

This year, though, they knew that it would be different. No Dudley to hide from during the school year, which had made their summer break at Privet Drive seem that much longer.

"Best summer ever," Harry sighed, packing his trunk. Melanie nodded in agreement. She was waiting for Harry to finish so that they could leave for school.

"Best year ever."

Harry smiled. "You're right."

Within a few minutes, Harry had finished packing his few possessions, with his Invisibility cloak tucked at the very bottom. They both gathered their stuff, eager to leave. Even if this was their best summer ever, Hogwarts would be even better.

Going down the stairs was an obstacle course. There were clothes and items scattered all around the steps. One had to proceed with caution to ensure that going downstairs wouldn't end up with a broken neck.

Harry nearly dragged Melanie down the stairs when Fred and George dropped their trunks down the stairs, right into Harry. Thankfully, Melanie had been able to grab onto the banister and stop them from tripping down a flight of stairs.

"Thanks, guys!" Melanie yelled sarcastically.

Harry regained his balanced. "A broken neck in the morning is just what everybody needs."

Eventually, they managed to get all the stuff into the car. Once they had to turn back for George ("I just realized… I forgot my Filbuster fireworks." "GEORGE!"), and another time for Ginny ("I LEFT MY DIARY BACK AT THE HOUSE!" "Do you really need it?" "RON, I NEED MY DIARY! MUMMMMMM!").

They reached King's Cross Station late, leaving only fifteen minutes for them to get ready to board the train.

"I'll go with Hermione," said Melanie, spotting her bushy-haired friend nearby. She didn't particularly feel like getting caught on the other side of the barrier and having to fly to Hogwarts on a train, possibly breaking a wand or arm.

They got through safely, followed a moment later by Ginny and Mrs. Weasley.

"Where are Harry and Ron?"

"Let's just go find a compartment, Hermione. I'm sure they'll catch up eventually."

Thankfully, the girls were able to find an empty compartment further along the station. They loaded their trunks on ("At least you're not dropping them on my foot, Hermione…") and got aboard just as the train was about to leave.

"Can I join you?" Ginny poked her head into the compartment. Once she saw that Harry wasn't there, her face stopped resembling a tomato.

"Sure." Melanie moved over to make space.

Within the next five minutes, their compartment had five people in it; Neville and Luna Lovegood had joined them.

"I wonder where Harry is," said Ginny, staring at the empty spots as if Harry would materialize in it if she stared hard enough.

Melanie looked out the window, trying to spot a flying Ford. "Yeah; I wonder."

"Perhaps he was taken by the Snuffling Klethians," Luna added, twirling her hair absent-mindedly.

"The what?" Hermione asked, half-curious and half-doubtful.

"Oh, the Snuffling Klethians. I can't believe you haven't heard of them." Hermione's expression soured. "They like to pick well-known people and spirit them away into the woods for a couple of days."

Melanie decided to humour the blonde girl. "Really?" Luna nodded. "What do they do with the humans they take?"

"They tell them stories and ask for some in return."

"And what do they-"

"Those don't exist!" Hermione interrupted.

Luna's expression got slightly defensive while still maintaining her spacey demeanour. "Of course they do."

"No. I would've read about them by now." Hermione crossed her arms across her chest with a sense of finality.

"They only reveal themselves to some people. Nobody would want to publish it to non-believers."

"Anyways," Neville interrupted the argument, regarding the two girls anxiously. "I wonder what we're going to learn this year."

Hermione started talking about what she read in the second year books last year. Melanie saw Neville make a face as Hermione started talking about how fantastic it would be to have Gilderoy Lockhart as a teacher.

Melanie scoffed. "We're not going to learn about anything important from him."

Hermione let out in a dramatic gasp. "But he's done so many great things!" Her scandalized expression only got worse as Melanie seemed unfazed by her argument.

"He's said he's done so many things."

"Why would he lie?"

"Fame, fortune." _Wanting to take credit from people who were 'ugly.'_

Eventually, many arguments from Hermione later, they arrived at Hogwarts. Neville was kicked out so that the girls could change into Hogwarts robes.

"Do you know where Harry is?" When Melanie shook her head, Hermione frowned. "Don't lie."

The words 'I'm not lying' were on the tip of her tongue, but remembering that Ron already knew, partially, anyways, Melanie admitted, "I know." She gestured around them in a way that promised she would tell Hermione when there weren't dozens of people within earshot.

Once they were by the carriages, Melanie's eyes widened in horror.

"What the hell are-"

"What's wrong, Melanie?"

As second years, they were supposed to ride the carriages to Hogwarts now (although why the teachers thought it was a good idea to take first years across the lake, Melanie didn't know). They'd been told by various people that the carriages weren't pulled by anything, although Fred and George had tried to convince Melanie that they were pulled by ogres riding broomsticks ("Then why are they invisible?" "…Magic?").

In front of the carriages, however, was something. And if something was there, the carriages weren't pulled by magic after all.

Thestrals looked like highly malnourished dragons. Skin hanging onto their bones gave them a skeletal look, adding up to the creepy feeling of being near them. Their eyes resembled big, white marbles that were stuck into a face. Their manes and tails were the only parts which had hair, the rest being translucent skin.

Those creatures were why Melanie cried out. She could see that Neville looked quite scared. A few of the other students could see the creatures, by the majority of the students seemed unaffected.

"What do mean mean, 'what's wrong?' Do you see those creatures?"

Hermione gave her a puzzled look. "What creatures?"

Melanie was about to suggest that she should get glasses when Steven's voice echoed in her mind.**She can't see the Thestrals.**

_Thestrals, Thestrals..._ Melanie searched through her mind's sandbox of information, looking for Thestral-related information.

_Quite rare; Hogwarts has the only domesticated... Flock? They're supposedly symbols of bad luck, misfortune, and aggression. Live in dark places. Quite intelligent, although the majority of wizards don't seem to think so. Can only be seen by people who have seen death... OH!_ So that was why she could see them. _Maybe it's because I saw my parents be killed in front of me? I wonder about Neville..._

"Thestrals," she whispered to Hermione.

Hermione's eyes glazed over as they often did when she was trying to 'remember' something. "Oh!"

"Don't worry," Melanie reassured Neville. "I can see them, too."

The boy gave an audible sigh of relief.

The Thestrals traveled pretty quickly, and they were soon at Hogwarts. The carriage ride was filled with chatter until Hermione asked, rather bluntly, "So, who did you see die?"

While Melanie answered that she saw her parents, Neville cast his eyes down and didn't speak.

As Dumbledore gave his customary 'Welcome back to Hogwarts' speech, Melanie's thoughts turned back to the basilisk. Everybody else's fates were pretty much secured where the giant snake of death was concerned, but Melanie couldn't help but wonder whether or not it would affect her. She had a strong gut feeling that it would.

Should she warn Hermione about it? _Well, that is if I can find a way to say_**_anything_**_about this year..._To Hermione, it would be the worst punishment ever to miss even a day of school. And this year, she'd be missing much more than a day.

"Melanie?" Hermione's voice brought her back to reality. Melanie looked around to realize that the Great Hall was practically empty.

"You should get the password from a Hufflepuff prefect."

"We don't have passwords."

"Oh." Melanie could tell that Hermione was itching to ask what they used instead of a password, but Hufflepuff secrets were to remain secrets.

"So..." Hermione said, dragging the syllable on for ten seconds. "Are you going to tell me where Harry is?"

Laughing, Melanie said, "Dobby blocked the barrier so he and Ron decided to fly the Ford here instead of waiting. They've crashed into the Whomping Willow and Ron broke his wand." _I suppose it's a good thing that they flew the car so that it can save them from the spiders._

Hermione blinked rapidly in disbelief. "You're joking." When Melanie shook her head, Hermione said, "How do you even know this?"

_Not this again..._ It was her fault for telling Hermione about what happened with Ron and Harry but this was just karma to the max.

"I can't tell you. Don't tell Harry about the Dobby part. He'll figure it out eventually."

Just then, Ron and Harry came down the hallway. Hermione started yelling about how Gryffindor-ish they acted by risking their lives flying a car. They could've been spotted and then what would've happened to them? And they crashed into the Whomping Willow? They were lucky they weren't killed.

By the time that Hermione had finished lecturing them, Melanie was safely away in her Hufflepuff bed.

**{A/N. Yeah, that's it.}**

**~ScaleneGalleons~**


	5. Classes

**{A/N Chapter Five. Thanks to That Elusive Reader (Dramatic music. Ron's onto Melanie! :O Thanks for the lovely reviews again! 3) and Dazer95 (Really glad that you like reading what I'm writing! :D) for reviewing.**

**Not J.K. Rowling, which has been established.}**

He was dead. Completely, utterly dead.

That was Ron's only thought as he saw Errol fly towards him, a Howler in his beak. By now, the excitement and adrenaline had worn off. Even the appreciative 'Awesome!'s didn't do anything to ease his guilt.

"It's alright, he's still alive."

"I don't think that's what he's worried about, Hermione." Melanie pointed at the Howler, which Ron was clutching as if it was a bomb.

_Mum's angry..._

"What's that?" Harry reached to grab the Howler but Ron jerked it back.

"Careful. She's sent me a… a Howler."

Neville looked over and gulped. "You should open it, Ron. It'll be worse if you don't. My gran sent me one once, and I ignored it and… it was horrible."

"What was the Howler about, Neville?" Melanie asked.

Neville shrugged, trying to act nonchalant. "Something about how I was embarrassing the entire family."

"What's a Howler?" Harry tried to grab the red letter again. _Annoyed that he's the only one that doesn't know what a Howler is. Confused about how Melanie knows,_ Ron noted.

"Open it." Neville nudged his hand. "It'll all be over in a few minutes."

"This," said Ron, "is a Howler." Shakily, he opened the envelope.

As soon as the yelling started, everybody in the Hall covered their ears. They could still hear the shouting but it wasn't earsplitting anymore. Ron, however, knew that he had to sit it out without covering his ears.

He wasn't against sliding down and hiding his face behind the table, however.

About five minutes later, the yelling stopped and everybody had their hands free to eat again. Ron wasn't hungry anymore, only partly because the Howler had turned to ashes on top of his breakfast.

Hermione turned to him with a satisfied look on her face. Ron opened his mouth to say something but Melanie got there first.

"Save it, Hermione. He's been embarrassed enough."

Hermione had no time to respond as the Head of Houses came around giving out the schedules.

"Why are you three at the Slytherin table?" Ron nearly jumped out of his skin as Snape's voice came from right behind him.

"We were just-"

"Don't make pathetic excuses, Granger. I am not an imbecile. I know that you all sit at the Slytherin table. Is it too much to ask that you have the few brain cells required to know that respective Houses have their own tables for a reason?"

"Isn't Hogwarts about House unity?" Melanie glared at the professor.

Snape glared back. "Ten points from Gryffindor and Ravenclaw. Twenty from Hufflepuff for backtalk. Leave before I make it fifty."

For a second, Ron could see that Melanie was considering rebelling and arguing even more. _Don't; he's just a bitter professor._

Ron grabbed Melanie by her arm and dragged her away to the Hufflepuff table. Behind them, Hermione stuttered a 'Y-y-yes-s, s-sir" before running back to the Ravenclaw table.

Ron waited for Melanie to get her schedule before he realized that Professor McGonagall had left the Great Hall.

"You owe me for not letting Snape bring Hufflepuff into the negative points." He paused, looking at the hourglass. "Well, for not letting him bring Hufflepuff further into the negatives."

"Yeah, well, if I can prevent you from getting eaten by spiders will that work?"

"What? Spiders?" Melanie looked up in surprise, probably not having meant for Ron to hear her.

"Oh, we have Herbology together now. Come along, little lion."

"No, seriously. Spiders?" Even though he pestered her the entire way to the greenhouses, she didn't respond.

"Inside, inside." Professor Sprout led them into greenhouse three. Inside, on the tables, were some plants that Ron recognized as Mandrakes because Hermione had demanded that Ron test her on every little bit of information about Mandrakes for the first year exam.

"We'll be repotting Mandrakes today. Now, who can tell me the properties of the Mandrake."_Oh, I was right. They are Mandrakes. Wait, I know the properties!_

Because Hermione wasn't in the class, Neville was usually the only one to answer Herbology questions. Unsurprisingly, Professor Sprout jumped on the chance to call on somebody else for once.

"Um, Mandrake is a powerful, what's the word, restorative?" Professor Sprout nodded. "It can be used to unpetrify petrified people."

"Excellent. Ten points to Gryffindor." Professor Sprout turned to the entire class. "Not only does Mandrake 'unpetrify' people, as Mr. Weasley puts it, it also returns cursed or transfigured people to their original state."

"Original state? A baby?" Melanie laughed as she heard Ron say that.

"The Mandrake forms an essential part of most antidotes. It is also, however, dangerous. Who can tell me why?"

Neville answered this time. "Because the cry of the Mandrake kills anybody who hears it. But these ones are too young... Will they still knock us out?"

The professor beamed. "Precisely. Take ten well-earned points for Gryffindor. Now everybody choose a pair of earmuffs."

All the boys sprinted forwards to grab a pair of earmuffs that were not pink or fluffy.

"When I tell you to put them on, make sure your ears are completely covered. When it safe to remove them, I will give you the thumbs-up." Professor Sprout proceeded to put on her earmuffs and everybody else in the class did as well.

Ron opened his mouth in shock and could see several other open mouths of astonished students. _Mandrakes are ugly..._

When it was repotted, they took their earmuffs off to listen to the instructions. _This is going to be a long class,_ Ron thought as a Neville and Justin Finch-Fletchley joined their table group.

~.~.~.~.~

_I'm going to have to get used to failing all my classes this year._

Between his broken wand and lack of Hermione-esque magical skills, it would be a miracle if he didn't set Hogwarts on fire or even mutate the Giant Squid.

"Stupid... Useless... Thing..." He punctuated each word with a brutal whack of his wand on the desk.

Professor McGonagall had suggested for him to write home for another wand.

Yeah, right. Like his parents would even get him another wand if he broke it any other way. He wasn't anything special; not a Prefect, not captain of the Quidditch team, not excelling in his studies. With the six siblings and lack of money, why would he get anything?

If he told his parents about his wand, they would send another Howler about how he should've been more careful, think more, be more like his siblings. That would be bad enough, but imagine what everybody would say if he got _another_ second hand wand.

_We're already poor enough; I don't really need another wand._

He hastily exited the classroom as his wand began emitting golden sparks.

"Yikes." Ron jumped a mile in the air as Melanie came up from behind him. She waved her hand and the small sparks stopped setting nearby papers on fire.

"Thanks."

"You really should get a new wand, mate." Harry poked his wand, making a small explosion burst out the end.

"Yeah, Ron. Broken wands are dangerous, especially when you're trying to learn new spells. They can start emitting toxic fumes in some cases. What if something bad happens?" _How does she not choke on all those textbooks she swallows?_

"Where am I going to get a new wand? Besides, where'd the three of you come from?"

"We learned to Apparate." Melanie put on a straight face.

"Actually, Melanie, there's an age limit for learning Apparition and-"

"I know, Hermione. I was joking."

Just then, a small, mousy-haired boy stepped in front of Harry. _Nervous, young, first year. Most likely a Muggleborn. Scratch that, definitely a Muggleborn._ Ron stared at the Muggle camera in his hands. His dad had taken to collecting some Muggle gadgets and had been simply fascinated by the picture taking device. Although wizards had cameras, they were far simpler.

"All right, Harry? I'm - I'm Colin Creevey. I'm in Gyffindor. D'you think… would it be all right if… can I have a picture?"

_Another Boy-Who-Lived fan. Harry's going to love this,_ Ron thought sarcastically.

"A picture?" When Colin nodded and began talking about how he wanted proof that he met Harry Potter, the second year in question flushed a Gryffindor scarlet.

It was only made worse when Draco Malfoy overheard their conversation.

"Signed pictures? You're giving out signed pictures, Harry?" At Harry's spluttered protests, Draco began laughing. "Everyone queue up! Harry Potter's giving out signed photos!"

"Shut up, Draco." Harry looked around in alarm. Thankfully, not many people had heard the announcement. "Prat."

Little Colin Creevey decided to give his two cents. "You're just jealous."

"Jealous?"

"Yeah! You're jealous that-"

"Um, Colin, Draco's just being a prat. As usual." Harry was looking more and more uncomfortable as Colin and Draco engaged in a staring contest.

"Weasley would like a signed photo, Harry. It'd be worth more than everything his family owns!"

"Shut it, Malfoy." Ron pulled out his wand, feeling fury course through his veins. How could Harry be friends with that prick? It wasn't like Ron already didn't spend more than enough time feeling guilty whenever one of his friends treated him to something. He didn't need that blond idiot reminding him of his financial problems.

"Just because you don't have a proper family-"

"Look out!" Hermione's whisper shut Ron up and he slid his wand back into his sleeve._Another time._

"What's all this, what's all this?" Gilderoy Lockhart strode towards them, blinding everybody within a five metre radius with his teeth.

"Who's giving out signed photos?" When his eyes fell on Harry, he smiled even wider. "Shouldn't have asked! We meet again, Harry!"

By now, most of the crowd had left. Only Draco was left, with his 'bodyguards', smirking widely at Harry.

"Come on then, Mr. Creevey. A double-"

"Harry! We forgot something in the classroom!" Melanie stepped forwards and grabbed Harry's hand. Within seconds, she had dragged Harry down the hallway.

"Should we-"

"Yeah," Hermione interrupted. The two of them raced after their friends.

"Don't thank me, Har." Melanie could be heard around the corner. "Just be grateful that that picture wasn't taken."

"And hope that Lockhart doesn't fail us in DADA," Ron added.

"He wouldn't do that," defended, who else, Hermione. "Plus, that was very rude, Melanie."

"Whatever. Look, meet you guys in the library after dinner today." For the second time in ten minutes, Melanie ran off into the corridors.

For the next few days, Ron was on 'Colin-duty.' His job was to make sure that Colin didn't get anywhere near Harry, especially when he was holding a camera. Unfortunately, the younger boy seemed to have memorized Harry's schedule (which Draco had confessed to telling him) and was near impossible to shake off.

By the fifth photo Colin had managed to snap, they were all resigned to have a first year tail them.

"He's so irritating," said Ron, grinding his teeth together.

"He's just a child," Hermione reprimanded.

Melanie rolled her eyes. "An annoying child." Ron and her high-fived over Hermione's head.

"I'm sure all of us were like that as children," Hermione pointed out, missing the look that Harry and Melanie shared.

_If I followed somebody around with a camera, mum would've yelled at me._

"Not really, now that I think about it." Hermione puckered her brow. "He is quite annoying, isn't he?"

"Who're you talking about?" Colin seemed to have developed some form of Apparating based on how he could just pop out of nowhere. "Are talking about Malfoy?"

"Yeah... That's who we were talking about." Behind the first year, Ron made a face at him.

"So, Harry. You thinking of trying out for the Quidditch team?" Colin looked up at him curiously.

"How did you know about that?" When Colin shrugged, Harry sighed. "Just so you know, I did try out. I made it as a Seeker."

All three second years groaned.

"Now Slytherin's going to win both cups." Ron had been counting on the fact that Draco would be the Slytherin Seeker to actually give Gryffindor a chance of winning. Two bad Seekers would cancel each other out, Ron supposed.

"How do you know we're going to win?"

Melanie raised an eyebrow at her oblivious brother. "It's obvious, isn't it, Har?"

Hermione continued, saying, "Considering the fact that Gryffindor is the hardest team to beat, not including Slytherin, they are the only ones that stand a chance. We were kind of counting on Draco being Seeker."

"Oh, I forgot to mention. Draco and I have to prove who's better for each game to see who plays. He's bought the entire team broomsticks."

"When you say he, you mean his father." Harry nodded, making Ron feel even more miserable. _Money might not be everything, but it's sure important._

"That's not fair!" Ever a stickler for the rules, Hermione looked outraged.

"Well, technically," said Melanie, "there's no rule saying that they can't buy brooms for themselves."

"Not that. It's just that he's practically buying his spot on the team."

"That's a Malfoy for you," Ron said bitterly. "How do you think his dad managed to get a spot in the Ministry after being a Death Eater?"

"Seriously, what's with the Malfoy-Weasley rivalry?" asked Melanie.

Ron rolled his eyes. "It's not just the Malfoys; it's basically every Pureblood family. Because Weasleys are a bunch of 'blood traitors' apparently."

"Surely there must be more than just one family of Purebloods that don't want to kill everybody," Hermione pointed out. "I mean, statistically speaking-"

"This isn't math class, Hermione. If they speak out too much, they could get killed." Harry lowered his voice so that Colin, who was still creeping behind them, couldn't hear. "After all, with Voldemort still alive..."

"Harry's right," Melanie said. "I hate to say this, but your family might as well have painted a target on themselves."

"And that's not even including how close you all are to Harry," added Hermione.

Looking worried, Harry said, "You know it's not too late for you guys to completely deny the fact that you know me, right?"

"Har, I said this last year. I'm your sister so you can't stop me."

"Besides, I'm a Muggleborn so I'll end up being a target anyways."

"No way you're getting rid of me, mate. Besides we still have to figure out..." Ron made a circling motion around his wrist.

**{A/N Long chapter, not much happened, whoops? XD Read and review! *throws virtual cookies into the air* (and cookies as in edible ones, not the computer things).}**

**~ScaleneGalleons~ **


	6. Lockhart and Quidditch

**{A/N Chapter Six. First Hermione POV chapter. Yay! Thanks for the review, Dazer95! :D In response to your question, I'm planning to do either 6 or 7 years. With Melanie along, they could just skip all the learning about Voldemort chapters as she'd know about it. It all depends on how much there needs to be written for those years.**

**Not J.K. Rowling (that spell I tried didn't work).}**

Hermione felt vaguely disappointed.

Defence against Dark Arts was a joke their first year. Quirrel was a horrible teacher, not even including his murder attempt.

This year, they had Gilderoy Lockhart. Hermione had been expecting some amazing lessons on spell casting and defeating dark creatures. Instead, they'd gotten a test about his books.

One key theme that Hermione had noticed on the test was that they were all mundane questions about himself. But this she dismissed as him making sure that they actually read the books. The class only took another turn downhill when the professor proved his incompetence with pixies.

_Maybe he's just tired_, she defended against the more logical part of her brain.

_Or maybe he's a fake, like Melanie, Harry, and Ron have been telling you all along._

_Why would he fake his achievements? _

_Why not?_

"Well, I'll ask you two to nip the rest of them back into their cage," said Professor Lockhart, waving his arm dramatically around the classroom. Quickly, he ran out the door and slammed it shut behind him.

Melanie and Hermione were left to wrangle up the pixies. "He's not fit to be a professor!" complained Melanie, burning a pixie's hair when it decided to pull hers.

_Maybe he wants to give us some hands-on experience…_ She didn't voice her opinion out loud; it sounded pathetic even in her mind.

"He didn't even know what he was doing," Melanie continued. She looked expectantly at Hermione, smirking when the other the brunette didn't defend the professor.

"You finally believe me?"

"You've read his books," protested Hermione, though weakly. "Look at all the amazing things he's done-"

"Things he's said he's done! There's no proof."

Eventually, the two of them managed to round up the pesky pixies. Of course, the first thing that Melanie did when she saw Ron and Harry was tell them about the incident.

"Can you believe it?" asked Melanie once she'd finished telling them. The two boys burst out laughing.

"The same thing happened in our class," Harry said.

"Yeah; the two of us had to round up the pixies. Harry here decided to throw a book on them.:

"Well, I wasn't the one who swung a chair at them!"

"How did the two of you manage to round them up?" questioned Melanie. "I mean, swinging things at them only irritates them."

"Talking from personal experience?"

"Shut up, Harry."

~.~.~.~.~

_It's way too early for this…_ Hermione, Ron, and Melanie were standing on the Quidditch pitch, watching the fight between Slytherin and Gryffindor.

"But I booked the field! I booked it!"

Hermione was mentally calculating points for their argument as if it was a real debate. Oliver Wood lost one for sounding like a whiny child.

"Ah," said Flint, smiling nastily. "But I've got a specially signed note here form Professor Snape. 'I, Professor S. Snape, give the Slytherin team permission to practice today on the Quidditch field owing to the need to train their new Seekers'."

"But- Wait, you've got new Seekers?" _Don't get distracted when arguing. -1._ "Where?" Wood glared at Flint as if the Slytherin had eaten the Seekers.

From behind the six large Slytherin players stepped out a confident Draco Malfoy and an embarrassed Harry Potter.

"Aren't you Lucius Malfoy's son?" said Fred.

"Harry?" George stared at him, as if just realizing that the boy who'd spent the summer at their house was a Slytherin.

"Funny you should mention Draco's father," Flint said, ignoring the fact that all the Gryffindor's eyes were on the Boy-Who-Lived. "Let me show you the generous gift he's made to the Slytherin team."

Everybody on the Slytherin team held out their broomsticks. Seven Nimbus Two Thousand and One gleamed in the morning sun, which turned into eight when the Slytherin Quidditch team glared at Harry until he held out his.

"Very latest model. Only came out last month. Sweeps the board with the old Cleansweeps."

"Ha, ha, very funny," said Ron sarcastically. "Sweeps the board. They're brooms. Very funny." That wiped the smirks off Draco's and Flint's faces.

"You could always raffle those Cleansweep Fives; I expect a museum would bid for them," quipped Draco. Now, the Gryffindors were the ones scowling.

"So, wait, why aren't we practicing?" asked Harry. Everybody turned to stare at him.

"Yeah… Why don't you guys just practice against each other?" Hermione suggested. _Why don't you let us get a teacher first? So you don't end up killing each other._

"No one asked you, you filthy little Mudblood," Draco said, lips curling into a sneer.

Members of the Slytherin team stepped in front of Draco to protect him from the Gryffindor team. Melanie had grabbed Ron's wand and point it at the ground, preventing him from casting any spells.

"Your wand is broken, Ron," hissed Hermione. Ron nodded reluctantly. "What's a Mudblood?" she whispered as an after thought.

Ron's response was cut off when the yelling between the two teams suddenly stopped. Hermione looked over, expecting to see Fred or George having managed to get past Flint.

Instead, Draco was sporting a red mark on his cheek, and Harry was clutching his fist.

"Prat," hissed Harry, much more venomously than when he called Draco a prat just days ago. He spun on his heel and left the field.

"Harry!" Hermione, Ron, and Melanie followed Harry as he stomped back to the castle. Harry changed his mind halfway, heading to sit under a nearby tree instead.

"I don't know why I'm friends with that blond git," Harry muttered.

"Neither do we."

Melanie slapped Ron over the head. "Bad timing, Ron." But Harry was laughing.

"Your timing is excellent, mate."

"Um, question?" Three heads turned to face Hermione. "What's a Mudblood?"

Harry stopped smiling. "It's an insult that applies to Muggleborns."

"It basically means that their blood is 'dirty' because your parents are Muggles," finished Ron.

"How is that an insult? I mean, is that the best that those Purebloods could come up with?" Hermione asked.

"They don't have two brain cells to rub together," snickered Melanie. Before long, Harry, Hermione, and Melanie dissolved into laughter.

When they stopped laughing, a confused Ron, who'd never had a proper science class, asked, "What are brain cells?" That started another round of laughter.

~.~.~.~.~

"Harry, are you alright?" _He looks rather pale today… How long did Professor Lockhart keep him for a detention? _Hermione noticed ink marks on his hand. _Maybe he was writing lines?_

"Huh?" Harry blinked rapidly. "Oh, fine, Hermione."

"You're a terrible liar," said Ron, abandoning his work to play psychiatrist. "What's up?"

"Oh, just tell them." Melanie calmly flipped another page of her Potions textbook, scribbling down notes.

"Tell them what?"

"About the voice…"

"Okay, seriously. How do you know about that?"

"Do you two have twin telepathy?" asked Hermione, only slightly doubtful.

Melanie grinned. "Not telepathy." When Hermione and Ron realized that she wasn't going to elaborate, they turned back to stare at Harry.

"Fine. Yesterday, when I was in detention, I heard a voice saying something about killing."

"That's not normal," said Ron.

"Really? I thought that normal people heard voices about death," Harry said sarcastically.

_That's really not good. _"Where was the voice coming from?"

"I'm not sure."

Ron sighed. "I feel like this year's going to be worse than the last." His sense of dread only worsened when Melanie nodded in agreement.

~.~.~.~.~

Hermione had noticed that the Slytherin team was much lazier than the Gryffindors about practicing Quidditch. It had become her habit to go after breakfast and watch Harry practice whenever he was practicing. Not because she was particularly interesting in Quidditch; she watched because Ron and Melanie did. The three of them brought Harry breakfast whenever he had an especially early practice and moral support whenever he had a bad day.

_He's still not talking to Draco,_ Hermione noted. She had seen several occasions where Draco tried to talk to Harry, only to be left behind as Harry raced away on his broomstick or ran down the corridor. As if on a silent agreement, a few of the other Slytherins, the less prejudiced ones, were also giving the blonde Slytherin the silent treatment.

_He must be lonely._Hermione felt pity for him; she knew what it was like to be shunned.

"We're utterly dead," Ron groaned, Hermione looked up from her Transfiguration notes to see Harry grab the Snitch for the seventh time since they started practicing 35 minutes ago.

"It's just the Quidditch cup," said Hermione, purposely making her tone extremely dismissive. She smirked slightly as Ron reacted how she thought he would.

"Just Quidditch? You might as well say it's just school?"

Hermione looked him straight in the eye and said, "It's just school." Last year, what with the whole Voldemort incident, Hermione had learned that friendship and bravery were much more important than school.

Ron seemed stumped.

"Hey, you two," said Melanie. "Did you notice that the team's left?"

**{A/N This chapter was kinda choppy, but whatever XD I'm planning to have a chapter out on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, but then I'll go back to my normal once a week (occasionally twice a week).}**

**~ScaleneGalleons~**


	7. Halloween

**{A/N Chapter Seven. Thanks to Dazer95 (Thank you! :D I'm glad that you like my story. :3) and That Elusive Reader (You're a brilliant reviewer. Considering I was expecting a total of 1 person to actually read my story, a simple review makes me so happy! :D And Hogwarts really should have some Muggle classes, but I suppose all of that 'basic' learning is for the parents to teach their kids.) for reviewing!}**

"So why'd you get us roped into this Deathday party?" asked Ron, who was looking longingly back at the Great Hall. They could all smell the Halloween dinner, which was being laid out onto the five tables.

"Don't be so negative, Ron," Hermione lectured. "This could be a fascinating experience. After all, how many humans are invited to these parties?"

"I'm pretty sure there's a reason none of them go to these _Death_day parties."

"Ron's got a point," said Melanie. She, for one, knew how absolutely boring this was going to be and was not looking forward to it. "Death and life typically don't go together."

"I promised him," said Harry. However, even he was looking regretful.

"We know you promised," muttered Ron, "but why'd you drag us here?"

The temperature dropped noticeably as they descended further into the dungeons. Shivering slightly, Melanie could feel her temperature rising and the other three walking closer to her.

The passageway they were taking was lined with candles which had blue fire that created a gloomy light over them. As if that wasn't spooky enough, they were starting to hear a screeching sound from the direction they were heading.

"Is that supposed to be music?" Ron asked doubtfully.

Melanie and Harry shrugged helplessly, trying to find a way to cover their ears inconspicuously.

"Fascinating..." whispered Hermione.

Melanie winced, covering her ears. "It won't be so fascinating when you go deaf!"

They turned a corner and saw Nearly Headless Nick floating in the doorway. He looked vaguely surprised that it wasn't just Harry there.

"My dear friends. Welcome, welcome... so pleased you could come." He swept off his hat and used it to usher them in.

_Are we supposed to be happy or sad?_Melanie knew that ghosts celebrated and enjoyed talking about their deaths, but was this the right occasion to smile and crack jokes? She ended up settling on a grimace like somebody was sticking her with pins.

Inside the room were hundreds of ghosts, filling the room with pearly-white figures. They were all dancing. _Well, I think they're dancing._Some form of dancing that involved floating and going through furniture. A chandelier above them was filled with hundreds more of the black candles with blue flames.

Harry's eyes were darting around the room as he tried to take in everything. "Shall we have a look around?"

"Careful not to walk through anybody." Ron tiptoed around the incorporeal figures, shivering when one reached its arm through Ron's stomach.

"Oh no. Turn back, turn back. I don't want to talk to Moaning Myrtle-"

"Who?"

"Never mind that, Harry," said Melanie. She grabbed Harry's arm and Hermione grabbed Ron's. The two of them dragged the oblivious boys into a corner until the teenage ghost had left that area.

Leaving Hermione to explain who Moaning Myrtle was, Melanie walked around the room. She saw rotten food, which ghosts were wistfully walking through. It wouldn't be very appetizing, but it was still something.

At one end of the room, there was a crowd of ghosts which made the white so thick that Melanie couldn't see through it properly. That was where the music/screeching seemed to be emanating from. She looked back to the three humans, glad that she missed meeting Peeves. She considered throwing a candle or something at him.

Suddenly, Melanie was hit with memories.

**_Third year at Hogwarts. Dementors everywhere. Safety precaution? Sirius Black on the loose. Sirius Black, a safety hazard. Sirius Black, the person that betrayed their parents to Voldemort._**

Somehow, Melanie had managed to find a wall to lean against so that she didn't fall onto the ground. _Third year again. Really?_

She had no time to think about it, however. Hermione was gesturing to the door and the boys were practically sprinting towards it. Melanie joined them, backing awkwardly towards the door. They smiled and nodded at the ghosts who noticed them.

"Quickly, quickly," muttered Harry.

Once they were out of the dungeons, they could feel their feet leading them unconsciously back towards the Great Hall.

"Maybe there's still some food left," said Ron wistfully. His stomach rumbled as if on a cue.

"Oh, I have some food in my dorm." There was a pack of Muggle crackers, which she'd stashed at the bottom of her bag and under an extra pillow.

"Well, go then." Ron made shooing motions with his hands. Melanie laughed.

"Fine. Meet you back in front of the library later."

Melanie walked down the hallway. _I wonder whether Ron will like the Muggle crackers or not._It was only then that she remembered the basilisk.

"Damn." Walking hesitantly now, Melanie continued on her way.

_And of course I have to get lost..._ Wasn't that portrait supposed to be back there? And wasn't that suit of armour supposed to be on the third floor? Didn't she already pass that door?

Hearing a small splashing sound, she looked down.

_Okay, seriously?_

~.~.~.~.~

"Where is she?" Ron tapped his foot impatiently. "How long does it take to get something from the Hufflepuff dorm?"

Hermione, on the other hand, was worried. "What if she got lost?"

Harry sighed teasingly. "Let's go find her." Suddenly, he stumbled, cupping his ear.

"Harry? What're you-"

"It's that voice again." Hermione shut her mouth, trying to hear. "Shut up for a minute. Listen!

Hermione and Ron both stopped, trying to hear whatever it was. _Nothing,_Hermione thought.

"Harry, are you - Harry?" Ron stopped his question when Harry ran down the corridor.

"This way!"

With a helpless shrug, Hermione followed Harry's winding path.

"Harry, what're we-"

"Sh!" Hermione snapped her mouth shut. "It's going to kill someone!"

_WHAT?_"Shouldn't we go find a teacher?" Hermione whispered. No answer. She could see her shock mirrored by Ron.

Abruptly, Harry stopped. He was almost pressing his ear against the wall in a vain attempt to hear something.

"Harry, what was all that about?" demanded Ron, looking irritated. "I couldn't hear anything-"

"Look!" Hermione stifled a gasp. Just ahead, the floor was patched with puddles.

_Looks like it's overflowing from Myrtle's bathroom. Stupid Peeves, making Myrtle upset._ Something was shining on the wall ahead, reflecting the light from the nearby torches.

On a silent agreement, the three stepped forward to get a better look at the shining words.

THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS HAS BEEN OPENED. ENEMIES OF THE HEIR, BEWARE.

Harry stepped closer. "What's that hanging there?" He jerked back. "Mrs. Norris."

"Is she dead?" asked Hermione. "Wait, no…"

Ron examined the cat and shook his head. "I think she's alive."

"Oh! She's been petrified," said Hermione. _This is interesting. We should get a chance to examine the cat to know what petrification victims are like._The more sympathetic part of her brain told the other part to shut up.

"No!" Harry cried, looking down.

The other two followed his gaze to see Melanie, lying in a puddle of water. Hermione wasn't so interested in examining petrified victims anymore. Harry was kneeling next to Melanie in an instant, checking her over. Oddly enough, she seemed to have an annoyed expression on her face.

"Petrified?"

Ron crouched down and nodded, much to Harry's relief.

From around the corridor, there was a rumble of footsteps. "Uh-oh..." mumbled Ron.

Through the gasps and mutterings could be heard Draco Malfoy. "Enemies of the heir, beware! You'll be next, Mudbloods."

By that point, Filch had arrived, which was the only thing stopping Harry from punching Draco again.

"My cat!" _Oh no..._ Filch rounded on them with accusing eyes.

"Before you say anything," protested Harry, "my sister is there too. I didn't touch your cat!"

_Professor Dumbledore's here!_Hermione noted with relief.

The headmaster's eyes swept the scene before him. "Come with me, Argus. You too, Mr. Potter, Ms. Granger, Mr. Weasley."

"My office is nearest. Just upstairs; please feel free-"

"Thank you, Gilderoy."

Hermione's heart was pounding as they went to Professor Lockhart's office. Was this what it felt like to be in trouble? Last year, they'd never been punished for the 'Stone incident,' but Hermione had still felt a small rush as they sneaked through the hallways. This was ten times stronger. She never crossed professors. She didn't want to feel guilty, which was one of her natural responses whenever accused by an authority figure.

Her mood lifted as they entered the office, though. Posted on the walls, filling the space like a patchwork wallpaper, were photos of Gilderoy Lockhart. Most of them were signed. The Lockharts in the photos were all scrambling out of their frames in embarrassment out of being caught with hair rollers.

Hermione sighed as Professor Lockhart began rambling about what could possibly have happened to the cat. She was really starting to believe... _Melanie._The redhead had been carried down to the Hospital Wing and put into a private area along with the cat.

"She's not dead." Professor Dumbledore's statement cut off Professor Lockhart's ridiculous assumptions.

"I didn't do it!" Harry said in response to Filch's accusing glare.

Dumbledore kept a calm voice. "No second year could have done this. It would take Dark magic of the most advanced-"

"He did it, he did it! He-"

"How many times do I have to say this?" Harry's eyes were glinting with barely concealed anger. "I. Didn't. Do. It. I don't know if you've realized, but my _only family member_ has also been Petrified."

"Mr. Potter and his friends may simply have been in the wrong place at the wrong time." Everybody turned to look at Professor McGonagall, though Filch's face was still plastered with disbelief.

"Then why were they in the hallway instead of at the feast?" demanded the caretaker, looking triumphant.

_He's accusing three second years, not interrogating a Death Eater..._Hermione suppressed the urge to stick her tongue out at him.

The three of them all burst into explanations. Even talking over each other, the adults were able to understand most of what they were saying.

"See, Argus?" said Dumbledore. "These three were simply heading back to their dorms."

He still looked slightly doubtful, but nodded in reluctant acceptance. "But what about Mrs. Norris?"

"We will be able to cure her, Argus," reassured Dumbledore. "Professor Sprout recently managed to procure some Mandrakes. As soon as they have reached their full size, I will have a potion made that will restore Mrs. Norris. And Ms. Potter." The last part was added to Harry, who'd been glaring at Filch for a while.

"I'll make it," Professor Lockhart said, smiling brightly. "I must have done it a hundred times. I could whip up a Mandrake Restorative Draught in my sleep-"

There was a sudden tension. "Excuse me, but I believe I am the Potions master at this school."

"I wouldn't trust what that idiot made anyways," whispered Ron so that only the three of them could hear.

An awkward pause later, they were dismissed. Lockhart looked embarrassed, Snape annoyed, Filch still looking for vengeance, McGonagall curious, and Dumbledore slightly amused.

They were gone in a snap, doing an odd run-walk. When they were a floor above where Lockhart's office was, they found an empty classroom and closed the door behind them.

"D'you think I should have told them about that voice I heard?"

Two parts of Hermione's brain battled out the pros and cons of telling.

The voice might end up meaning something, but they might think that Harry was insane. It might help them, but only after they let Harry out of an insanity ward or something.

"No," Ron replied straightaway. "Hearing voices nobody else can is never a good sign. They might've thought you were making it up anyways."

"If they did believe you, you probably would've been considered insane first." Hermione was only slightly joking.

"You do believe me, don't you?"

"Course I do," said Ron quickly. _A bit too quickly..._ "But, you must admit it's weird..."

"I know it's weird," said Harry. "The whole thing's weird. What was that writing on the wall about? 'The Chamber of Secrets has been opened? Enemies of the heir, beware?' What's that supposed to mean?"

Ron looked at the wall, squinting as if the wall was hiding his answer. "That sort of rings a bell. I think someone told me a story about a secret chamber at Hogwarts once. It might have been Bill."

Hermione interrupted. "That's nice and all, but what was the actual story about?"

"Some secret chamber in Hogwarts."

"That's so specific." Hermione heard words echoing in her mind. _Chamber of Secrets. Created by Salazar Slytherin. Said to be home to some monster. The monster is there to 'purge' Hogwarts of... Muggleborns._She repeated her 'findings' out loud, wrinkling her nose in disgust at the 'purging' part of it.

"Where'd you read about that, Hermione?" asked Harry.

Hermione tilted her head to the right. She hadn't read about a 'Chamber of Secrets,' had she? But then again...

"Maybe I read it in a history book..."

"Hogwarts, a History?" suggested Ron.

"Maybe. Do either of you have that book?"

"Don't you own every book in existence?" When Hermione refused to meet Ron's eyes, he continued. "Did you not bring it?"

"Sorry? Couldn't hear you." Harry cupped his ear as Hermione mumbled.

_Obviously. That's why I mumbled._"I said, I didn't bring that book because I had to make space for all the Lockhart books." She could feel her face burning as both Ron and Harry stared at her in amazement.

"You got rid of an educational book-"

"To pack that giant pile of dragon dun-"

"Anyways," Hermione said, cutting off Ron mid word.

**{A/N. Melanie's petrified. :/ Well, this will be interesting to write. XD}**

**~ScaleneGalleons~**


	8. Petrified

**{A/N Chapter Eight. March Break's almost over. ;-; No more doing nothing all day… *sigh* Thanks to That Elusive Reader (Mwah hahahaha Melanie's petrified. Ron and Harry are going to be really lonely when Hermione gets petrified. XD Especially because they're in different Houses. :3) and Dazer95 (Thank you once again!) for reviewing!**

**I'm not J.K. Rowling.}**

"Okay, seriously?" Melanie tapped her foot impatiently, which made no sound at all.

_This isn't what being petrified was supposed to feel like. _That had been her first thought.

When she had instinctively looked down after a hearing a noise, she'd seen the pair of yellow eyes. Melanie had been prepared to wake up months later, probably very confused and slightly irritable. Instead, she felt like a ghost.

Well, she felt like what she assumed a ghost would feel like.

It was like she'd just been knocked down by a chess piece again. Except, this time, the chess piece knocking her down had actually managed to kill her and she awakened as a ghost.

Melanie glanced at her wrist, where her amber gem bracelet was supposed to be. It was there, but a faint version of it. It still glowed, but much less. She wondered briefly what it looked like on her petrified self.

It was only a few minutes after she saw the reflection of the yellow eyes that she'd 'waken up' and started floating. Before she could figure out what was happening, Harry, Ron, and Hermione raced onto the puddles. Harry was in the lead, doing some odd manoeuvring as he tried to keep his ear in the hearing range of the odd voice. She watched as they took in the scene and, later, her petrified self.

"This is so weird…" Before she knew it, students had flooded the hallway, all stopping further back as they stared at the words on the wall. It seemed like the entirety of Hogwarts was there. News was said to travel fast in Hogwarts, but that was just ridiculous!

Melanie scowled. _You idiots. Don't accuse Harry of anything. Do you not see me lying here-there? _She could hear the whispers of accusation, overlapping each other until it sounded like a group of angry cats hissing.

She sent her fist at Draco's face as he threatened the Muggleborns, temporarily forgetting that she wasn't exactly… solid. Her hand went flying through his face, making the boy flinch.

For some reason, it seemed that Melanie's temperature was higher than human temperature, rather than lower in the case of a ghost.

She didn't think that ghosts would be able to see her. It was practically like she was existing in another dimension, merely as a spectator of the students at Hogwarts.

Instead of following Harry and watching Filch accuse her brother, Melanie decided to follow Draco back to the Slytherin Common Room. Curious to see what it looked like, she followed closely behind Draco. An added bonus was that her presence seemed to make him slightly uncomfortable, subconsciously.

The Slythering area was a sharp contrast in comparison to the Hufflepuff area. Green and dimly lit, the entire Common Room seemed like a glass chamber in a swamp. That was, pretty much, what the windows showed. Melanie felt that she could stay there forever, watching the fish swim past the windows. She'd even seen the tentacles of what she assumed to be the Giant Squid latch onto the glass before disappearing.

A fire burned in the fireplace, which was decorated with a snake mantelpiece. Around the part where wall met ceiling or floor, there was a border of snakes, which seemed to be eating each other. In fact, on pretty much every surface, there was a hidden snake design somewhere.

The entire room was beautiful, but eerily so. While most said that Slytherins were opposites of Gryffindors, Melanie found that Hufflepuffs were more like their opposites.

_Light common room, dark common room. Bright, gloomy. Puts friends and loyalties first, puts ambition and power first. Underestimated, overestimated. Friendly and approachable, sly and guarded. Liked, hated. Looked at as victims, scapegoats._

Her train of thought was cut off as Draco abruptly stood up from the couch in which he was sitting and walked up some stairs. With nothing better to do, Melanie followed. It was bad enough not being seen. It would simply be isolating if she wasn't near anybody.

_He looks lonely_, Melanie thought, looking at Draco as he sighed and lay down on his bed.

Was being a Slytherin hard?

Melanie had never seen any of them act particularly friendly to anybody, not even each other. While that didn't necessarily mean that they were _mean_ to each other, everybody else in Hogwarts sure was. Even the professors (other than Snape, of course).

Every newcomer to Hogwarts that wasn't Sorted into that House was told that it was always a snake's fault when something went wrong. Always blame them, never befriend them.

It was only because Harry had been friends with Hermione and Ron before their House switch/change/weird-thing-that-gave-them-alternate -memories-except-Melanie-got-more-because-she-for- some-reason-saw-the-alternate-world-where-she-didn 't-exist that he wasn't shunned by their respective Houses.

_Well, that and the fact that he's famous,_ Melanie pointed out to herself. Draco was famous for coming from a snotty family, which only contributed to his predicament.

"Maybe I shouldn't have said that," muttered Draco. He let out a long sigh and closed his eyes.

Melanie bit her lip. She was definitely going to have to get Harry and Draco to make up when she wasn't petrified. Though, it was good to see that Draco was doubting how right he was about Muggleborns.

Sitting down (a.k.a. hovering above the bed), Melanie tried to provide silent comfort to Draco. He seemed to realize, subconsciously, that she was there; he shifted to make more space for her.

"But what's right?" asked Draco aloud, almost as if hew as expecting an answer. Melanie could hear the silence, 'Mudbloods or Muggleborns?'

"Muggleborns," answered Melanie confidently. She hoped that Draco could hear her, at least partially. She reached out a hand and patted Draco awkwardly on the shoulder. Patted Draco awkwardly _through _the shoulder. He shivered, but didn't move away.

_He feels so cold. Must be my fire magic thing. _

If there was only some book she could check for answers. She couldn't even ask Steven because there was an absence of him in her mind ever since she was petrified.

_So inconvenient! _For once, she felt completely isolated.

Strange how she relied on the voice in her head for comfort.

She sat like that until Draco fell asleep. By then, it was quite late and Melanie could hear noise from the Common Room.

Laughing quietly at her stupidity when she tried to pull the blanket over Draco's sleeping form (her hand went right through it), Melanie left.

As she was heading out, she saw Harry heading up to his dorm with Theodore and Blaise. For a second, Harry's eyes flickered to where Melanie was and a look of shock came over his face. But then, the moment was over, and Harry wasn't looking _at _Melanie anymore.

She sighed. _Well, I have to go make the most of this… Maybe I can find a way to become more solid and move somebody's things around. Maybe I should move Hermione's books around._ She snickered slightly, imagining her friend's reaction.

~.~.~.~.~

"So bored!" Melanie sighed, collapsing through the Slytherin couch. She still wasn't to going _through _things. A week had passed since she'd been petrified. Melanie had taken to following either Draco or Harry around, usually Draco, although Harry had 'seen' her several times already.

But during the day, she either had to choose suffering through classes or being bored and doing absolutely nothing. Absolutely. Nothing.

With that alternative, classes didn't seem so boring anymore. If only she could _hold _a wand and practice magic. As if being at the very bottom of the class wasn't bad enough, now she had to miss an entire year of practicing casting spells.

She could almost hear Hermione's voice nagging in her ear. 'Well, at least you'll know the theoretical and, theoretically, that's enough.' Then Ron would say something about school being unimportant, which Harry would agree with, and the three of them would get into some argument about the important of Quidditch and school.

Besides the boredom, she was also feeling slightly scared. What if she was stuck living like this? Completely alone, nobody to talk to.

_Stupid basilisk._

By now, the gossip and speculations had died down among most of the school, although the teachers were still on edge. Thankfully, everybody seemed to have finally gained some partial function of their brain and realize that Harry wouldn't petrify his family; therefore, he couldn't be the Heir.

Melanie couldn't help but feel exasperated; an entire school and nobody could think of any creatures that could paralyze? Honestly, for a second year to have figured it out before Dumbledore, or even Hagrid with his magical creature knowledge. That was just sad.

_At least they can make a potion to restore me,_ Melanie thought, trying to comfort herself. At least Lockhart wasn't making the potion. She'd probably end up turning into a squirrel or something.

It was lonely being petrified improperly. Not even ghosts could see her, as she suspected, although they seemed to sense her presence more strongly than people.

This was going to be highly irritating.

**(A/N Yay for short chapters! No? Okay… Yeah. I couldn't really think of anything else to add and I didn't really want a POV switch at the end of a chapter. Don't worry; there'll be another chapter tomorrow :D)**

**~ScaleneGalleons~**


	9. History Class and Conversations

**{A/N Chapter Nine. Thanks to the two guests: book worm (Thank you so much!) and Guest (O_O XD Glad that you like it, and I'll be sure to continue so you won't have to track down my address) and Dazer95 (Thank you! :3) for reviewing. Thanks to everybody who even reads! :D}**

Hermione was struck by a sudden idea. She raised her hand high into the air, high enough so that even Professor Binns couldn't ignore it.

_I don't understand why we don't have a teacher that's alive and more interested in the subject. _

Hermione would never admit it out loud, but even she didn't pay attention in History of Magic. She just knew the history, like it was instinctual knowledge that had gotten lost in the back of her brain. For most of the class, she just reviewed notes from other classes.

Their professor looked up, shocked that Hermione had interrupted his lecture. "Miss… er-"

"Granger, Professor." Wasting no time, Hermione asked her question. "I was wonder if you could tell us anything about the Chamber of Secrets." She did her best to sound curious instead of having a 'oh-my-god-please-answer-the-question-and-stop-bor ing-us' voice.

As if those were the magic words, the students all looked up from their slouched, disinterested positions.

Professor Binns merely blinked. "My subject is History of Magic. I deal with facts, Miss Granger, not myths and legends." _Wrong_! Hermione _knew_ that the Chamber of Secrets existed.

Hermione waved her hand high in the air again.

"Miss Grant?" _Grant… Really, Grant?_

"Please, sir, don't legends always have a basis in fact?" Professor Binns face was so amazed. Hermione wondered if he even remembered that he taught a class, and wasn't simply reading a textbook out loud.

"Well," he said slowly, "yes, one could argue that, I suppose. However, the legend of which you speak is such a very sensational, even ludicrous tale-" By now, the entire class was staring at their ghost professor attentively, expectantly, raptly. "Oh, very well." This was probably the first time that the professor had ever seen any students listening to him talking.

"Let me see… the Chamber of Secrets…"

_Slytherin._

"You all know, of course, that Hogwarts was founded over a thousand years ago – the precise date is uncertain-" _Created from 896-945, _Hermione thought, having no idea where she'd gotten those years from.

"-by the four greatest witches and wizards of the age. The four school Houses are named after them: Godric Gryffindor, Helga Hufflepuff, Rowena Ravenclaw, and Salazar Slytherin." _Me, Ron, Harry, Melanie. _Now where had that comparison come from? They were hardly anything near the level of the Founders.

"They built this castle together, far from prying Muggle eyes, for it was an age when magic was fear by common people, and witches and wizards suffered much persecution." Hermione could almost hear screaming, crying magic children, watching their parents being burned at the stake. She blocked out that piece of history, staring at Professor Binns.

"For a few years," _More than a few years!_

"-the founders worked in harmony together, seeking out youngsters who showed signs of magic and bringing them to the castle to be educated." _Not just educated; safe. _

"But then disagreements sprang up between them. A rift began to grow between Slytherin and the others. Slytherin wished to be more selective about the students admitted to Hogwarts. He believed that magical learning should be kept within all-magic families. He disliked taking students of Muggle parentage, believing them to be untrustworthy. After a while, there was a serious argument on the subject between Slytherin and Gryffindor, and Slytherin left the school."

That was the part of the story that didn't sit right with Hermione. Something… something was off.

"Reliable historical sources tell us this much," _What reliable sources?_

"But these honest facts have been obscured by the fanciful legend of the Chamber of Secrets." _Not just a legend. _

"The story goes that Slytherin had built a hidden chamber in the castle, of which the other founders knew nothing. Slytherin, according to the legend, sealed the Chamber of Secrets so that none would be able to open it until his own true heir arrived at the school. The heir alone would be able to unseal the Chamber of Secrets, unleash the horror within, and use it to purge the school of all who were unworthy to study magic."

_Wrong, wrong, wrong._ Hermione wrinkled her nose and furrowed her brow. It bugged her that she couldn't tell what was wrong.

There was a silence so thick that somebody could've cut it with something much duller than a knife.

"The whole thing is arrant nonsense, of course. Naturally, the school has been searched for evidence of such a chamber, many times, by the most learned witches and wizards. It does not exist. A tale told to frighten the gullible." _Maybe none of the people who looked for it were the Heir._

Hermione raised her hand back into the air. "Sir, what exactly do you mean by the horror within the Chamber?"

"That is believed to be some sort of monster, which the Heir of Slytherin can control." Professor Binns' voice was highly doubtful, and even slightly bored.

_Alright… Something in the Chamber. A monster that paralyzes, has association with Slytherin. Maybe it's a bas-_

"But, sir, if the Chamber can only be opened by Slytherin's true heir, no one else would be able to find it, would they?"

Hermione scowled. She'd almost figured it out, but Seamus' loud voice had interrupted her train of thought. No, not interrupted. More like he'd driven a high-speed rocket straight into the front of it.

"Nonsense, O'Flaherty." _O'Flaherty… _"If a long succession of Hogwarts headmasters and headmistresses haven't found the thing-"

"But, Professor, You'd probably have to use Dark Magic to open it-"

Parvati was interrupted by the aggravated ghost teacher. "Just because a wizard doesn't use Dark Magic doesn't mean he can't, Miss Pennyfeather." _Pennyfeather…_ "I repeat, if the likes of Dumbledore-"

"But maybe you've got to be related to Slytherin, so Dumbledore couldn't-"

Dean's perfectly logical question was cut off by Professor Binns.

"That will do." Hermione didn't bother listening to the rest of the professor's rant. She sat up straight in her seat and retained an 'I'm-paying-attention' look on her face. But no matter how hard she thought, she couldn't recover her train, which was burning and smoking.

"I always knew Salazar Slytherin was a twisted old loony," Ron said to Harry and Hermione.

They had taken to sitting at the Gryffindor table; the Slytherins would always try and listen in on their conversations. They'd found that by sitting beside Fred and George, they'd always be too close to chaos to be overheard. Although, there were the few times when Fred or George decided to stop being chaotic beings and listen in on their conversation.

The only downside was that there was the occasional splattering of food, which Fred and George were quite fond of for some reason.

Ron continued. "But I never knew he started all this pure-blood stuff. I wouldn't be in his House if you paid me. Honestly, if the Sorting Hat had tried to put me in Slytherin, I'd've-"

"You'd've what, Ron?" Harry said, teasingly. "You'd've died of humiliation? Begged to be buried alive? Choked on the fume of snakes?"

The redhead flushed a little. "I was just going to say I would've gotten back on the train and gone straight home." Ron smiled teasingly. "But then again, that snake smell is quite horrid."

"Well said, young Ronnikins." The three second years jumped, not having realized that George was listening to them talk.

"D'you really think there's a Chamber of Secrets?" asked Ron, lowering his voice slightly so that George couldn't hear what he was saying.

"Well, do you?" Harry asked, looking at Hermione.

"Yes," she answered firmly. "I know there is." _And I'd know where it is and what was inside of it if Seamus wasn't so **loud.**_

"How d'you know that?" Ron raised an eyebrow, looking at her doubtfully.

Hermione shrugged and he groaned. "Not more of that vague 'I-don't-know' stuff. What's with you girls?"

"What do you mean, Ron?" asked Harry, speaking over Ron's exclamation of pain as Hermione pinched him.

Ron rolled his eyes, rubbing his arm. "Well, it's actually Melanie." It was Hermione's turn to roll her eyes; she knew exactly what Ron was talking about. But, apparently, Harry didn't.

"What about Melanie?"

"You can't seriously- Is he actually- Did you not- Are you-" stammered Ron.

"Harry, we're just talking about how your sister seems to be omniscient." Hermione heaved a long, overdramatic sigh. "Omniscient means all-knowing."

"Oh…" went Ron and Harry.

"Yeah, that," agreed Ron. "Though, you could've just said all-knowing."

"Tell me that if I said all-knowing you wouldn't have laughed at my word choice." When there was no response, Hermione smiled smugly. "Thought so."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa." Harry raised his hands up in front of them. "What's this about omniscience and Melanie?"

"He seriously didn't notice." Ron lifted his face upwards, muttering something that sounded suspiciously like, 'Hopeless.'

"It's just that she always seems to know what's going to happen," explained Hermione, shooting Ron a 'would-you-be-patient-with-him' glare.

"Remember when you got lost in the Floo?" Harry turned red at Ron's words. "Yeah, while everybody was looking for you, Melanie was just standing off to the side, watching us call your name. When I asked her, she said that she knew where you were."

"Not to mention that she knew that Ron was knocked out by the queen last year," said Hermione, remembering her surprise that she heard her mention that.

"If that's not omninisint-"

"Omniscience," corrected Hermione.

"Yeah, that," said Ron, "then I don't know what is."

Harry looked at a wall, looking as though he was trying to understand how his twin could be omniscient. "Well… there was how she knew that Ron would come to 'rescue' me this summer."

"Okay, I can see how she might be able to guess that you were in Knockturn Alley, but how could she possibly know that we were going to fly a car?"

"Says the boy who grew up around magic," muttered Hermione. She was still trying to wrap her head around levitation. Everything that Muggles knew changed when magic was factored into the equation.

Hermione shivered. For some reason, she felt warmth that was previously beside her move away. _How peculiar…_

Abruptly, Harry sat up straight and looked around. "Let's go look around that hallway…"

"Harry!" hissed Hermione, doing her best 'teacher' face as he stood up. A second later, Ron stood up as well. "Ron!"

"C'mon, Hermione," whispered Ron. He grabbed her arm so that she almost fell off the chair, having to stand up to stop herself from hitting the ground.

"Oh, fine," said Hermione, standing up with a peevish expression. "But if we get caught-"

"Yes, yes, yes. Getting in trouble, Ravenclaw's worst nightmare," patronized Ron, patting Hermione's bushy hair. He received a punch to his arm.

"Oh, just go." The three of them managed to creep along the wall and sneak out of the Great hall. The only reason they stayed unnoticed was because George had 'mistakenly' thrown a firework into a candle and set it on fire. At the moment, it was spitting sparks on food.

They turned some corners and went up some stairs, eventually ending up at the corridor where the attack had happened. They all stopped, looking to make sure that nobody was there. The words remained on the wall with an empty chair leaning against the wall nearby.

"That's where Filch has been keeping guard," said Ron, who looked on the verge of laughing at the caretaker's attempts to catch whatever was petrifying the people.

_Wait… Petrifying, Slytherin, snakes? Maybe it's a basi-_

"Can't hurt to have a poke around," said Harry. Immediately, Hermione raised a finger to her lips and shushed him, but it was too late for her burning, smoking train of thought to continue moving.

"Oh, for the second time today!" She stamped her foot in irritation. Harry and Ron both blinked, not understanding her sudden mood change.

"Uh… Well… Oh, look! Scorch marks. Here, here." Harry pointed at the wall.

Ron suddenly yelped and jumped back, hitting the wall opposite.

Hermione was distracted from her annoyance for a brief moment at how silly Ron looked. "Ron? What-"

He pointed at the window next to the message. Hermione and Harry both moved closer towards the window. Ron was scared of…

"Spiders?" questioned Hermione. _Isn't it usually a girl who's scared of the creepy-crawlies?_

"I don't mind them dead," said Ron, sounding slightly defensive. "I just don't like the way they move." When Hermione giggled, his tone turned even more defensive. "It's not funny. If you must know, when I was three, Fred turned my… my teddy bear into a great big filthy spider because I broke his toy broomstick… You wouldn't like them either if you'd been holding your bear and suddenly it had too many legs and…" Ron broke off with a shudder.

Harry, feeling bad for his friend, decided on a change of subject. "Remember all that water on the floor? Where did that come from? Someone's mopped it up."

"It was about here," said Ron, looking grateful that they weren't talking about spiders anymore, "level with this door."

"Oh, that's Moaning Myrtle's place," said Hermione. Ron drew his hand back immediately. "Oh, come on. Let's have a look."

Hermione ignored the OUT of ORDER sign and opened the door.

**{A/N Yeah. Nothing really to say. I'll try to get a chapter out next week, maybe two if I have the time.}**

**~ScaleneGalleons~**


	10. Bludgers and Incompetence

**{A/N Chapter Ten. Thanks to Dazer95 for reviewing again. :3 I wanted to get this out because I'm procrastinating my homework. XD**

**Not J.K. Rowling.}**

"This is somewhere I hoped I'd never be, let alone twice," muttered Ron. He glanced down the hallways cautiously, making sure that nobody could see the three of them sneaking into Moaning Myrtle's bathroom. Again.

"Oh, shut up," Ron said grumpily, banging on Moaning Myrtle's stall.

_You can't not find that annoying, _Rhe thought when Hermione hit his arm for being rude.

The three of them picked a stall, far away from the wailing ghost, and barricaded themselves inside it. Carefully, Hermione opened Moste Potente Potions. She put her face close to the pages as if she was trying to inhale the knowledge.

From the first picture, it was clear as to why the book was in the Restricted Section. It was interesting, in a gruesome sort of way.

"Here it is." Hermione's voice was alight with excitement. She pointed at the Polyjuice Potion recipe.

"Wait, why do we need this?" questioned Harry.

"Malfoy is-"

"Yes, Ron, I know your theory about Draco," interrupted Harry. "But why do we need this? I am a Slytherin."

"Yes, but you and Draco are really talking at the moment," Hermione pointed out, not even looking up from the book. She resumed mumbling ingredients under her breath and making a stirring motion with her fingers.

"Besides, do you really think Draco's going to tell you about being the Heir of Slytherin?" said Ron. Harry nodded, understanding their point.

"I guess I could just lurk in the background."

"And we'll be Crabbe and Goyle," said Hermione, shutting the book with a loud sound. "This is the most complicated potion I've ever seen. Lacewing flies, leeches, fluxweed, and knotgrass." Ron tuned out as Hermione continued listing the ingredients, only hearing her last sentence.

"Excuse me? What d'you mean, a bit of whoever we're changing into? I'm drinking nothing with Crabbe's toenails in it-" Hermione continued talking as if Ron hadn't said anything.

Harry, though, had a worry more pressing than how they were going to have to drink potions with bits of people in them. "D'you realize how much we're going to steal, Hermione? Shredded skin of boomslang, that's definitely not in the students' cupboard. What're we going to do, break into Snape's private stores? I don't know if this is a good idea…"

That was when Hermione looked up from reciting ingredients and instructions. "Well, if you two are going to chicken out, fine." _Calm down!_ Hermione was looking like Ron did when he had to defend how Quidditch was amazing. "I don't want to break rules, you know. I think threatening Muggleborns is far worse than brewing up a difficult potion. But if you don't want to find out if it's Malfoy, I'll go straight to Madam Pince now and hand the book back in."

_Well, that was unexpected. I hope she doesn't get like this about any creatures… _"I never thought I'd see the day when you'd be persuading us to break rules." He let out a dramatic sigh. "All right, we'll do it. But not toenails, okay?"

"How long will it take to make, anyway?" asked Harry. Hermione looked appeased and opened the book again.

"Well, since the fluxweed has got to be picked at the full moon and the lacewings have got to be stewed for twenty-one days… I'd say it'd be ready in about a month, if we can get all the ingredients."

"A month?" _Does she have any idea how nerdy she sounds? _"Malfoy could have attacked half the Muggbleborns in the school by then!" Ron moved back a little as Hermione's eyes narrowed angrily. "But it's the best plan we've got, so full steam ahead, I say."

_It'd be so much easier if Malfoy could just fall off his broom… _Unfortunately, it would be Harry playing tomorrow.

~.~.~.~.~

_We're going to lose. Again. _Ron had absolutely no hope for the Gryffindor team.

He watched as the Slytherins shot up like rockets into the air. The Gryffindor brooms climbed weakly into the air, each dipping slightly once or twice.

"Where did that Bludger come from?" asked Hermione, pointing at Harry. The small, green figure which was their friend swerved dangerously away the black speck. Ron watched as a Slytherin Beater hit the Bludger away, only to have it turn around midway and target Harry again.

"What the-"

"Harry!" Hermione squeaked as the Bludger started circling around him. Harry started to speed around the arena, only to have the Bludger follow him.

Slytherin was in the lead, but only by one goal. All of the Slytherins, whether playing or in the crowd, were staring at the stray Bludger. The two Slytherin Beaters were trying to follow Harry and keep the Bludger away from him. Even the Weasley twins, the Beaters on the opposite team, were refraining from hitting either Bludger, trying to keep the game less dangerous.

Eventually, Flint saw Harry's predicament. They called a time-out, which nearly caused injuries as the Bludger escaped Fred's grasp and shot off towards Harry.

"How can somebody tamper with a Bludger?" Ron looked expectantly at Hermione.

"Aren't you supposed to be the expert on Quidditch?"

"I'm the expert on the actual game, not the technicalities."

"Well, then neither of us know."

The timeout was over, and everybody's eyes were on Harry as he manoeuvred to avoid the killer Bludger.

"No, Harry!"

"You idiot!" yelled Ron. Hermione had covered her eyes with her hands. Harry had stopped for a brief second, watching the Snitch follow George. The Bludger took that brief moment to slam into Harry's arm, effectively breaking the bone.

_Ouch…_

Miraculously, Harry was able to make it to grab the Snitch, before shakily driving his broom down and collapsing on the ground. Immediately, everybody in the crowd was on their feet, trying to see if Harry was alright.

"Oh no," muttered Ron. "Not that idiot." Lockhart was crouching over Harry. Abruptly, their useless professor stood up and pointed his wand at Harry.

_His magic is worse than mine, and my wand is broken!_

"Doesn't know what he's saying," Lockhart announced to the crowd of students pressing around Harry. "Not to worry, Harry. I'm about to fix your arm."

"No! I'll keep it like this, thanks…" _So would I… _"I don't want a photo of this, Colin!"

"Lie back, Harry. It's a simple charm I've used countless times-"

"Why can't I just go to the hospital wing?"

Despite the insistence from the nearby students that, Yes, Harry should go to the hospital wing and get away from him you incompetent professor, Professor Lockhart rolled up his sleeves. "Stand back."

"No! Don't-" Too late.

"Ah. Yes. Well, that can sometimes happen."

"What can sometimes happen?" gasped Hermione.

_What if he vanished Harry? _The two of them shuffled through the crowd until they could see Harry.

"But the point is, the bones are no longer broken. That's the thing to bear in mind. So, Harry, just toddle up to the hospital wing – ah, Mr. Weasley, Miss Granger, would you escort him – and Madam Pomfrey will be able to, er, tidy you up a bit."

"Harry?" asked Hermione, trying to help him up. She shrieked when Harry's arm did a flop that no arm should be able to do.

"Don't tell me…" Ron trailed off.

"He didn't-"

"He did," rasped Harry.

"How can you possibly stick up for Lockhart now, Hermione?" asked Ron. "If Harry had wanted a deboning he would have asked."

"I-" Hermione sighed. "I can't anymore." Ron applauded loudly.

"So you finally agree that he's a fraud!"

"Well-"

"Oh, come on, Hermione," said Harry. "If he can't fix a bone, how can he kill a werewolf?"

"Yeah, he's a fraud." Hermione wrinkled her nose. "I'm usually against book burning, but there's an exception to every rule."

"You're in for a rough night," Madam Pomfrey said, holding out a bottle of Skele-Gro for Harry. "Regrowing bones is a nasty business."

When Harry had stopped coughing from the Skele-Gro, Madam Pomfrey left Ron and Hermione with Harry.

"You still won," said Ron, slightly exasperated. "That was some catch you made. You should've seen Wood's face."

"I want to know who fixed that Bludger," Hermione said. "If it was Malfoy…"

"Well, we can add that to the list of questions we'll ask him when we've taken the Polyjuice Potion," said Harry. "I hope for your sake it tastes better than this stuff…"

Ron groaned. "If it's got bits of Slytherins in it? You've got to be joking."

At that moment, the door of the hospital wing opened. The Slytherin Quidditch team was standing in the doorway, glaring at the two non-Slytherins.

_Did they forget that we're Harry's friends? _Apparently, yes.

"Who are they?" Flint asked, rather politely compared to his usual tone.

"Friends." That prompted some raised eyebrows, but the Slytherins said nothing.

"Great catch, Harry," Flint said. The rest of the Slytherins nodded in agreement.

"Did you see Wood's face when Harry still got the Snitch?"

"Can't believe it."

"At least the Weasels managed to keep from knocking Harry off his broom."

"Oi!" Ron yelled. "I'm a Weasley." The Slytherin who'd made the comment about the Weasley twins shrugged unapologetically.

Madam Pomfrey walked back into the room, making shooing motions to the team. "This boy needs rest, he's got thirty-three bones to regrow!" The Slytherins all left except for Draco, who was hovering awkwardly by the doorway.

"Great game," Draco said. _Hypocrite! You nearly killed him with that Bludger!_

Harry ignored him, staring determinedly down at his useless arm. Draco left, looking dejected.

"Well, we'll just be leaving then. Before Madam Pomfrey comes back," said Hermione, looking warily at the door through which the mediwitch had gone.

"Yes," called Harry to his friends as they left. "Leave me to regrow thirty-three bones!"

**{A/N Nothing really to say. Read and review!}**

**~ScaleneGalleons~**


	11. Ssssnake

**{A/N Chapter Eleven. Thanks to the Guest (Thanks! :3) and That Elusive Reader (Thanks for the reviews! :D It's hard to get things done, especially when you're busy . *gives you virtual brownies* Yeah… I feel so bad for Harry, having to regrow so many bones.) for reviewing. Anyways, onto the chapter!}**

"So Dobby the house elf enchanted a Bludger to kill you." Ron stared at Harry in sheer disbelief.

_I seriously hope you're joking, Harry, _thought Hermione. Her expression mirrored Ron's, except she was staring down at the Polyjuice potion.

At the moment, she was currently trying to get the sheet of instructions out of the potion. Harry had gotten out of the hospital wing that morning, heading straight to Moaning Myrtle's bathroom to find Hermione and Ron. He'd just burst in with no warning at all, making Hermione drop the paper in shock.

"Not to kill me," corrected Harry. Hermione sighed in relief until Harry said, "To severely injure me so that I would have to go home to my Muggle 'family.'"

"I… What – that – how-" Hermione held her hands up in a sign of defeat. "That's rather insane." _Extremely, horribly, impossibly insane._

"Agreed," said Ron, nodding fervently. "What the hell was that crazy elf trying to do? You would've just been sent to the hospital wing. Unless he was trying to break your neck…"

Hermione pinched herself. _Nope. I'm awake. This is just Harry's life._

_"_He could've actually killed you!" Hermione sighed for what felt like the hundredth time that day. "Well, at least he's trying to help. But if Dobby doesn't stop trying to help you, you'll end up dead."

They sat in silence for a few minutes. Ron and Harry watched as Hermione stirred and added ingredients to their (though it was hers really) potion.

"So the Chamber's been opened before," said Hermione. _Lacewing flies, crushed to a fine powder. Check. Two measures of that to the cauldron. Check. Heat for thirty seconds. Progress? Nearly done. Need: The boomslang skin, bicorn horn, last scoop of lacewings. _She put the crushed lacewings in a small bottle, which she wedged in a crack in the wall of the bathroom.

_Now, how to get those hairs…_

Hermione saw Ron scowl. "Must be a Malfoy family tradition. Go to Hogwarts, learn some spells, kill some Muggleborns."

Harry let out a laugh. "Imagine. 'Hey dad, guess what? I killed two more people than you.'"

Oddly, the three all started chuckling at the morbid joke, which eventually turned into full-on tears of laughter.

Suddenly, Hermione looked back at the potion. "Melanie would've loved this." At first, Hermione had been slightly annoyed that Melanie was better than her at potions. But she'd gotten used to it. After all, it was nice to have a person to discuss potions with. Even if other Ravenclaws were good at Potions, none of them loved the subject like their petrified friend did.

~.~.~.~.~

News about Colin had spread the way all gossip in Hogwarts did: impossibly fast. Those who had been told each went on to tell another few people.

Along with the suspicions ('Did you see how Colin was annoying Potter the other day?' 'I'll bet anything it was Potter!' Had everybody in the school completely forgotten that Melanie was Harry's _sister?_) and fear came charms and talismans.

Plenty of 'enchanted' jewellery, 'protective' powder, and 'charmed' crystals were being sold to the particularly frightened (or gullible) students.

Ron had managed to pull Neville away from being conned out of ten Galleons ('But I'm nearly a Squib myself!' 'Don't be stupid, Neville…'). Hermione had had to comfort some scared first years in Ravenclaw ('But what if we're next?' 'Fake talismans won't help you anyways.') in the way Ravenclaws were comforted best: logic and reason.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione went around under the Invisibility Cloak stealing the fake items and discarding them somewhere to try and stop other students from being scammed.

The only House seemingly unaffected was the Slytherin House. Nearly all of them were pure or half bloods (though they seemed to have forgotten that Melanie was a half-blood). And those who were Muggleborns in Slytherin didn't go parading that fact around by buying expensive, faulty items.

By the second week of December, everybody within Hogwarts was definitely feeling the winter chill. The three of them felt it more than anybody. Last year, they'd all stayed around Melanie, who'd acted as a heater for them.

The three of them had decided to stay for the holiday break, deciding to confront Malfoy then. Of course, there was still the fact that they needed the two ingredients for their potion…

"Let me get this straight," said Ron, "you want Harry to set off fireworks in the middle of a Potions class and me to sneak into Snape's office." Hermione nodded.

"I would be the one doing the stealing, but now that I'm a Ravenclaw, I can't."

Harry nodded. "Sounds good to me."

"That's 'cause you're not the one sneaking into Snape's bloody office. You're both insane." Nevertheless, Ron agreed.

And so came Potions class. Harry and Ron shared a brief look. The firework was released into Malfoy's cauldron ("Bullseye, mate!"). Ron sneaked into Snape's office in the midst of the chaos.

_Creepy…_

That was the perfect work to describe the office. Although the fire was lit, the entire office was distinctly chilly. There was a desk pushed to the side of the room. The only things on it were papers. No personalized items, like Ron had seen on Professor McGonagall's desk. Papers, quills, and ink bottles dominated Snape's desk. There were two chairs in the room, one of which seemed like nobody had sat in it for a long time.

All around the wall were shelves which held potions ingredients in jars. In a lot of them were floating animals in some sort of liquid. Ron looked around in amazement, identifying the ingredients.

_Aconite… Dittany… Is that dragon blood? _Next to the vial of dragon blood, there was a tiny bottle held a few drops. The bottle was labelled 'Basilisk Venom.'

After a second of looking around, Ron saw the cupboard where Snape's special ingredients were supposed to be, according to Hermione. Thankfully, the cupboard was open (as Hermione said it would be). It took Ron just a second to identify the ingredients that he needed to get.

_That's not suspicious at all. _The ingredients left a rather obvious gap in the cupboard, and a rather obvious bulge in his robes. _Great._

He took a moment to push the ingredients on either side of the missing ones closer together, to make the gap less obvious.

Fortunately, Snape was facing away from his office when Ron exited. He was handing out potions to the students who had been hit with the potion. Ron shuffled back to his table with Harry and gave him a quick nod. Between the two of them, they managed to clean up the droplets of potion which had gotten on the table (Malfoy was sitting at the same table as them; it probably wasn't Harry's best idea to throw the firework into Malfoy's cauldron).

"If I ever find out who threw this," whispered Snape, his voice carrying around the class, "I shall make sure that person is expelled." His gaze traveled to stare at the Gryffindors, who had all escaped unscathed. For a brief second, the professor's eyes traveled to Harry with a suspicious look. But that second was over and their class resumed.

"He knew it was me," Harry said to Ron and Hermione. Hermione looked doubtful, but Ron confirmed it.

"He looked at Harry with that professor-stare. You know, the one that you do."

Hermione rolled her eyes and added the ingredients. "It'll be ready in two weeks."

~.~.~.~.~

"Well, that was absolutely pointless." _What kind of Dueling club is this?_

Harry nodded in agreement. Just then, Professor Snape walked by.

"Time to split up the dream team, I think." He paired up Ron with Seamus, Hermione with Milicent Bulstrode, and Harry with Malfoy.

_He's doing this on purpose. _Ron narrowed his eyes at the professor, who was walking away with an oddly satisfied expression on his face. If Ron didn't know any better, he would say that Snape was actually… happy.

_Maybe he noticed how Harry was ignoring Malfoy and decided to help. _But the idea of a helpful Snape was slightly unnerving. Ron felt it was more natural to assume that Professor Snape was trying to get Draco to hurt Harry with some spells.

"Face your partners!" yelled Lockhart, who was back on the platform. Ron smirked, remembering how he had looked when Snape knocked him across the room. "And bow!"

Ron and Seamus bowed to each other, snickering slightly at how funny it looked.

"Wands at the ready!" shouted Lockhart. "When I count to three, cast your charms to disarm your opponents – only to disarm them – we don't want any accidents – one… two… three-"

The room was suddenly filled with action. Seamus cast the disarming spell at Ron, missing him by about three feet.

"Expelliarmus!" Immediately, Ron regretted trying to cast the spell. The spell didn't disarm Seamus properly. Instead, it knocked him back pretty far.

_I hope that didn't kill him… _Ron thought, morbidly. "Seamus? You alright?"

"Just dandy." The Irish second year sat up, looking rather pale and sickly.

"Sorry 'bout that."

"Yeah… You should get that wand of yours fixed." Ron made a face. This was about the umpteenth time that somebody had told him that.

"I said disarm only!" Ron turned to face Lockhart, who was running around and separating the groups. "Stop! Stop!"

Ron ran over to where Millicent Bulstrode had Hermione in a headlock (_Did you forget that you're a witch?)_. With great difficulty, Ron managed to pull Millicent off Hermione, who gasped in a breath. Harry was still talking (yelling at) to Malfoy.

Lockhart (Ron absolutely refused to call that disgrace a professor) could be heard walking around and helping the various injured students.

"What's with Draco?" asked Hermione, finally having caught her breath. Ron looked over the blond Slytherin, who was looking as angry as Harry.

"Oh… This isn't going to turn out well." Ron's sense of dread only grew as Professor Snape decided to volunteer the two angry second years for a demonstration.

_Can't he see that they're angry at each other? This is going to result in injuries. Or, maybe, he sees and just doesn't care._

There was a tense silence. Everybody seemed to realize that Malfoy and Harry were both angry. Eyes followed the two boys as they walked onto the stage and stood at either side, ready to attack. Some even went so far as to hide behind other students or get ready to cast a protective spell.

Just in case.

"Now, Harry. When Draco points his wand at you, you do this." _You idiot… _There was a loud clunk which echoed through the room as Lockhart's wand fell to the ground. "Whoops – my wand is a little overexcited-"

Ron narrowed his eyes as Snape moved closer to whisper in Malfoy's ear. _Telling him a spell? Telling him not to use dangerous spells? Telling him what?_

"Professor, could you show me that blocking thing again?"

"Scared?" teased Malfoy, eyes glinting viciously.

"You wish."

"Just do what I did, Harry!" Lockhart said, clapping Harry's shoulder in reassurance. _Become a fraud and take credit for other people's work?_

"What, drop my wand?" Laughter and gasps on indignation on Lockhart's behalf were heard.

"Three – two – one – go!"

Malfoy raised his wand and shouted, "Serpensortia!"

_Does anything ever go normally for Harry? _A large snake had shot out of Malfoy's wand. It raised itself, slithering around.

"Don't move, Potter. I'll get rid of it…"

"Allow me!" _No! Just let Snape do it!_

Too late.

Whatever spell Lockhart cast lifted the snake into the air, dropping it back onto the ground. All that spell did was make the snake angry. It slithered towards a nearby student, Justin Finch-Fletchley, fangs exposed and poised to strike.

The Hufflepuffs present started panicking and yelling for Justin, who was frozen with terror, to move. Harry actually started walking towards Justin instead of away like everybody else in the Hall was doing.

"What's he trying to do?" whispered Hermione. Ron shrugged helplessly. They got their answer as Harry opened his mouth and begin to hiss.

Ron felt a shiver go down his spine. What was that? _Wait… That's Parseltongue, isn't it?_

"He speaks Parseltongue!" said Hermione. By now, Ron wasn't surprised that Hermione knew that. Ron wouldn't be surprised if Hermione actually learned how to _speak_ Parseltongue by some theory and spell.

Whatever Harry said seemed to have worked. The snake lowered itself to the floor, looking like a pet instead of a vicious serpent.

The silence was broken as Justin shouted, "What do you think you're playing at?" and stormed out of the hall.

The sudden danger was over, but whispers broke out. Ron nearly groaned aloud. Harry speaking Parseltongue was only going to persuade more people that he was the Heir of Slytherin (but really, had everybody forgotten Melanie?). The snake was gone, vanished by a quick spell from Snape.

Ron and Hermione made their way over to Harry.

"Come on. Move – come on-" Hermione stood on one side of Harry and Ron on the other. Together, they escaped from the hall, trying to block the gazes of people that were staring at Harry.

A path was cleared for them as people were too scared to get close to Harry.

Once they were in the private room of the library, Ron said, "You're a Parselmouth! Why didn't you tell us?"

"I'm a what?" Ron scrutinized his face. Seeing none of the traits Melanie carried when she lied (fidgeting with her thumbs, looking at the other person's forehead instead of straight in the eyes, standing with her weight balanced on her right foot instead of on both), Ron nodded.

"A Parselmouth-"

"-is somebody that can talk to snakes and other serpent-like creatures," interrupted Hermione. Ron rolled his eyes at her, noticing the slightly glassy look in her eyes that always appeared when she was remembering some bits of knowledge.

"It's usually a hereditary skill, but I guess you're different unless your parents were Parselmouths. Salazar Slytherin is the most well-known Parselmouth." Hermione frowned. "Being a Parselmouth is typically considered a sign of a Dark wizard, which is complete rubbish. It's just that everybody has to find something to blame."

"So basically," said Ron, cutting off what was sure to be a long informational paragraph that Hermione had remembered from a book, "you can talk to snakes."

"Oh. I know." Harry seemed awfully nonchalant about the whole thing. "I mean, that's only the second time I've ever done it. I accidentally set a boa constrictor on my cousin, Dudley, at the zoo once – long story – but it was telling me it had never seen Brazil and I sort of set it free without meaning to that was before I knew I was a wizard-"

"A boa constrictor told you it had never seen Brazil?" _This is Harry's life. _Ron shook his head, torn between amusement and exasperation. He touched the blue bracelet, which was currently on his wrist. It had become his habit to touch the gem, which seemed to help him clear his mind.

"So? I bet loads of people here can do it."

"Oh, no they can't."

"Besides, even if there were loads of them, nobody would admit to it. It's the 'sign of darkness', after all," Hermione pointed out.

"Look," said Harry, "if I hadn't told that snake not to attack Justin-"

"Oh, that's what you said to it?" All Ron had heard was some ominous hissing. He could see why Justin was so angry.

"What d'you mean? You were there! You heard me-"

"I heard you speaking Parseltongue, which was basically just hissing. You kind of sounded like you were egging the snake on."

"Fascinating," breathed Hermione. "You spoke a different language without even knowing it.

"Harry, this is a big problem," said Ron.

"Look, I don't understand. D'you want to tell me what's wrong with stopped a massive snake biting off Justin's head? What does it matter how I did it as long as Justin doesn't have to join the Headless Hunt?"

"It matters because that's what Salazar Slytherin was famous for," Hermione said. Harry still looked confused.

"Look, mate, you know how everybody thinks you're the Heir?" At Harry's look, Ron hastily added, "I know you're not, but they all think you are? If you can speak Parseltongue, the 'evil' language, do you think that people will be convinced of your innocence?"

Already, Ron's mind was buzzing with ways to try and convince people that Harry was innocent without playing the whole 'My family is dead so why would I petrify my sister' card.

"But I'm not-"

"I know you're not," Ron repeated. "But now, the whole school's going to think you're his great-great-great-great grandson or something-"

"But I'm not!"

"Look, we know you're not."

"You'll find that hard to prove," said Hermione. She made a motion with her hand as if she was turning a page. Ron wasn't sure if she knew that she did that or if it was just a subconscious thing. "He lived about a thousand years ago; for all we know, you could be."

"So second year is worse than first year." Harry sighed heavily, burying his head in his hands.

**{A/N Whoo… Long chapter. I was going to update yesterday, but it was my friend's birthday. Anyways, expect another chapter sometime next week, maybe twice because of the long weekend.}**

**~ScaleneGalleons~**


	12. Debating in the Library

**{A/N Chapter Twelve. Thanks to That Elusive Reader (I told my friend you said happy birthday and she was just going O_O. People tend to forget about Melanie because Harry's famous and all that.), Guest (:3 TY) and Dazer95 (Glad you're enjoying it) for reviewing.}**

_Parseltongue... What is there about Parseltongues_?

Hermione frowned. There didn't seem to be many books in their library about it. There was just one history book about famous Parseltongues which mainly talked about Salazar Slytherin and, therefore, Hogwarts. Parseltongue was also referenced in several books, but those were mainly just sentences. And even then, those sentences were all along the lines of, 'Parselmouths are usually dark wizards'.

Hermione collapsed into a nearby chair wearily. She'd been searching for a long time. Their Herbology class had been cancelled due to the need for Mandrakes to have socks and scarves. Even Hermione didn't understand why Professor Sprout didn't just cast a charm or throw a blanket over them. Still, it was entertaining to say that their class was cancelled because some plants needed hats.

Sighing, Hermione moved to another shelf. It was a long shot looking for a book about Parselmouths in the Invisibility section, but why not?

Hermione winced as she heard a particularly loud laugh, followed by a few shushes.

_It's. A. Library. BE QUIET._

She turned away from the shelf to look at the table to find a group of Hufflepuffs. Their tones had changed drastically from their loud laughter just a few seconds ago.

Wait, Hufflepuffs?

_Harry. I should go get Harry._ Harry had wanted to talk to Justin about the whole snake incident and this would be the perfect opportunity. Madam Pince would be over in a second if any of the Hufflepuffs started yelling accusations at Harry.

As she walked back to their 'private' room, Hermione heard the words 'Harry' and 'Heir' in the same sentence. She almost stopped but decided to go get him anyways.

"Harry? Ron?" They looked at her. She made a pressed a finger to her lips, then made a 'follow-me' motion. They got up, looking rather confused. Nonetheless, they followed her.

A group of Hufflepuffs, who otherwise would have been at that Herbology lesson, sat at the back of the library. They, however, did not appear to be working. Their heads were all close together and they seemed to be in some sort of deep conversation. Hermione couldn't see Justin among them, though.

"Why are we-" Ron was cut off as Hermione covered his mouth with her hand. She pressed a finger to her lips and then cupped her ear.

"So anyway," said a Hufflepuff who Hermione recognized as Ernie, "I told Justin to hide up in our dormitory. I mean to say, if Potter's marked him down as his next victim, it's best if he keeps a low profile for a while. Of course, Justin's been waiting for something like this to happen ever since he let slip to Potter he was Muggle-born. Justin actually told him he'd been down for Eton. That's not the kind of thing you bandy about with Slytherin's heir on the loose, is it?"

"You definitely think it is Potter, then, Ernie?" said a girl with blonde pigtails anxiously. _Hannah._

"Hannah," said the stout boy solemnly, "he's a Parselmouth. Everyone knows that's the mark of a Dark wizard. Have you ever heard of a decent one who could talk to snakes? They called Slytherin himself Serpent-tongue." There was some loud murmuring at this, and Ernie went on, encouraged by his fellow Hufflepuffs who were starting to doubt Harry.

"Remember what was written on the wall? Enemies of the Heir, Beware. Potter had some sort of run-in with Filch. Next thing we know, Flich's cat's attacked. That first year, Creevey, was annoying Potter at the Quidditch match, taking pictures of him while he was lying in the mud. Next thing we know - Creevey's been attacked."

"He always seems so nice, though," said Hannah uncertainly, "and, well, he's the one who made You-Know-Who disappear. He can't be all bad, can he?"

Ernie lowered his voice. "No one knows how he survived that attack by You-Know-Who. I mean to say, he was only a baby when it happened. He should have been blasted into smithereens. Only a really powerful Dark wizard could have survived a curse like that." He dropped his voice until it was barely more than a whisper, and said, "That's probably why You- Know-Who wanted to kill him in the first place. Didn't want another Dark Lord competing with him. I wonder what other powers Potter's been hiding? Wouldn't the saviour of the world not be in the evil House at Hogwarts?"

Hermione could see that Harry couldn't take it anymore. Clearing his throat, he stepped out from behind the shelves. Hermione and Ron stood beside him, Hermione giving all the Hufflepuffs her 'professor glare,' as Ron liked to call it.

Every one of the Hufflepuffs sat upright in their seats with fearful expressions. Ernie's face drained of colour, looking as though he expected Harry to put him under some spell.

"Hello," said Harry. He stared expectantly at the Hufflepuffs. When none of them said anything, Harry continued. "I would like to speak to Justin." The Hufflepuffs all looked at Ernie, who put on a fearless face.

"What do you want with him?" Hermione felt tempted to yell at them for their stupidity. _If I could just imitate Professor McGonagall's tone of voice… _Obviously, Harry wasn't the Heir. But they needed somebody to blame.

"I wanted to tell him what really happened with that snake at the Dueling Club," said Harry. Hermione could hear the suppressed anger.

"We were all there. We saw what happened."

"Really, Ernie?" Hermione raised an eyebrow. "You were there two History of Magic classes ago. What happened?"

When there was no reply, Harry took the cue and said, "Then you noticed that after I spoke to it, the snake backed off?"

"All I saw," said Ernie stubbornly, "was you speaking Parseltongue and chasing the snake toward Justin."

"I didn't chase it at him! It didn't even touch him!"

"It was a very near miss," said Ernie.

"Then you clearly didn't see anything," pointed out Ron.

Ernie ignored him. "And in case you're getting ideas," he added hastily, "I might tell you that you can trace my family back through nine generations of witches and warlocks and my blood's as pure as anyone's, so-"

"I don't care what sort of blood you've got!" Harry interrupted fiercely. "Why would I want to attack Muggleborns?"

"I've heard you hate those Muggles you live with," said Ernie swiftly.

"It's not possible to live with the Dursleys and not hate them! I'd like to see you try it." He stormed out of the library, shooting a frustrated glare back at Ernie.

Hermione decided not to go after him. Instead, she tugged on Ron's sleeve. The two of them pulled out chairs to sit in front of the Hufflepuffs.

"So, Ernie, you think Harry's the Heir?" Hermione questioned, wanting to get things straight from the beginning. He nodded, along with everybody except for Hannah Abbot.

"You're bonkers," snorted Ron. "What?" Hermione had hit him on the arm.

"Timing, Ronald." She turned back to the Hufflepuffs, about to say something when she felt Ron's breath on her ear.

"Don't be too straightforward. They're all scared and it'll be hard to convince them. Watch Ernie's expression; he'll be the 'leader' of them." Hermione nodded slightly, surprised.

She'd realized that Ron was perceptive but not exactly to this extent. Then again, he had been the first to realize that Melanie knew a lot more then she should. Looking at him, she realized that his eyes were narrowed in what might look like an unfriendly manner, but it reminded her of when she was trying to remember something.

_Eyes narrowed, looking straight at something or someone, fingers moving as if writing something down... _All the signs of it were there. _Interesting. _

"So you think Harry's the Heir because..." Hermione motioned with her hand for them to explain. Ernie sat up straighter, looking as though he'd prepared a debate for this topic.

"He's a Slytherin-"

"So is about a quarter of the school," Ron interrupted.

"As I was saying," Ernie continued, clearing his throat loudly, "he's a Slytherin **and** a Parselmouth!" His gaze was triumphant as if he expected that they wouldn't be able to come up with a counter argument.

"Parselmouths aren't necessarily evil." _Being a Parselmouth doesn't mean that you're evil._ Hermione, for one, would love it; it would be an amazing learning experience.

"How would you know?" Behind her, Hermione heard Ron stifle a chuckle. She could see that Hannah, whom Hermione had talked to a few times, reacted similarly.

_Well, they should know better than to challenge me for knowledge by now. _

Confidently, Hermione listed off several 'good' Slytherins/Parselmouths along with their achievements, births, deaths, family members... Though she wasn't entirely sure how she knew that in the first place if there weren't any proper books about Parselmouths.

"Okay! I get it." Hermione stopped talking, frowning slightly. She hated when she was interrupted in the middle of her talking. However, listing more people wouldn't help Harry here.

Behind her, she could sense that Ron was smirking, a bit smugly.

"That doesn't mean I believe you," protested Ernie. Looking at each other and shrugging, Hermione and Ron stood up from the table.

"Where are you going?" When Ernie received no reply, he stood up as well. "We weren't finished talking."

"I think we were," said Ron without looking back at the following Hufflepuffs.

Later, Hermione cursed her carelessness. She should've made sure that the Hufflepuffs wouldn't follow them. But both her and Ron were both preoccupied with trying to figure out where Harry was.

"Aha! Caught in the act!" Ernie shouted once they saw Harry near two petrified figures.

Hermione felt a spike of fear and a spike of interest in equal measure as she recognized Nearly Headless Nick. _What kind of monster can paralyze ghosts. This is fascinating... Maybe we should- No, can't think about that now._ She nearly groaned aloud, knowing that this would mean that the Hufflepuffs would definitely suspect Harry now.

The bigger problem was the other figure: Justin Finch-Fletchley. Now, the Hufflepuffs would be even more suspicious of Harry.

Hermione could see that Ron had come to the same conclusion. They hadn't wanted to go around reminding everybody of Melanie; it was too 'woe-is-me,' too awkward, and Harry hadn't wanted them too. But now, as they watched their friend be escorted to Dumbledore's office by Professor McGonagall, they would have to.

Ron pulled Hermione into an empty classroom once the area had been vacated. "Let's find a way to get everybody to stop suspecting Harry. If we can get them to suspect Malfoy, all the better."

Hermione was glad to see that they were on the same track.

The double attack on Justin and Nearly Headless Nick turned nervousness into actual panic. It was Nearly Headless Nick that had everybody scared. What could possibly paralyze a ghost? Of course, Justin being paralyzed just increased the suspicion on Harry, and, by association, Ron and Hermione.

_This is just completely stupid! _Hermione saw a group of Hufflepuffs go down a corridor to avoid having to walk near her to their next class. The way they were going, they'd end up being late.

"I'm a Muggleborn_," _she muttered. Thankfully, it only seemed to be a few of the extremely scared people that suspected her. Honestly, was there nobody with more than five brain cells left?

Later, when they were in the private room of the library, Harry sighed. "This is getting annoying. Did you see how the Ravenclaws all scattered away from me when I was walking?"

"I apologize for my House." _We're supposed to be the smart ones!_

Ron shrugged. "Well, at least only a few of the most stupid people think it's either Hermione or me. Thankfully, it'll be emptier during the break. At this rate, we'll be the only ones left. Us, Malfoy, Crabbe, Goyle."

"Amazing holiday, huh, Ron?" Harry sighed.

**{A/N So… How's it going? XD Read and review, please. **

**Also, I realized after I started writing that Harry and Hermione wouldn't have Herbology with Ron, because the Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs would be missing the class. But I couldn't find another way to do this chapter and I wasn't sure what I could replace it with. Please just ignore that. DX}**

**~ScaleneGalleons~**


	13. The Polyjuice Potion

**{A/N Chapter Thirteen. Anyways, thanks to Dazer95 for the review! :D Glad you like it!}**

Hermione took a deep breath. "Alright. So here's the potion." Honestly, she still couldn't believe how easy it was to get Crabbe and Goyle hairs.

_How dimwitted are they? _Hermione suppressed a snicker at the thought of the two boys' reaction to waking up in the closet.

The thick, black smoke which was being emitted from their potion obscured their vision. By now, Hermione had developed a squinting tactic to keep the smoke from making her eyes teary, so she noted with amusement how Harry and Ron both pulled their robes above their faces.

Hermione had to admit that the potion didn't look like the most edible thing. The 'liquid' sloshed around like quicksand and looked close to it too. Even with two cups beside it, it looked more like something to use in some industrial factory rather than a drink.

At least it looked accurate. Hermione only wished that Melanie was there to help her; the two boys had next to no interest in potions, and this one was rather hard. There was no guarantee that she had gotten it one hundred percent right.

"Hermione?" Harry looked over her shoulder, shuddering when he spotted the potion. "Glad I don't have to drink that."

"Did you get them?" Harry held out Goyle's hair for Hermione to take. Scrunching up her nose in displeasure, she took the lock of hair.

"Good. And I sneaked these spare robes out of the laundry. We'll need bigger sizes once we're Crabbe and Goyle." She looked back down at the potion, lifting up the ladle she had it in to check the consistency. "I'm sure I've done everything right. It looks like the book says it should… once we've drunk it, we'll have exactly an hour before we change back into ourselves."

"Now what?" whispered Ron.

"Let's get two glasses of this and add the hairs." _And then we have to drink that… Yuck._

Hermione dropped Goyle's hair into a glass and Ron dropped Crabbe's into the other. The glasses hissed and frothed, reassuring Hermione that she had indeed made the potion correctly. They both turned colours even more unappetizing than the original Polyjuice potion colour, which Hermione didn't even think was possible.

The two of them retreated into separate stalls to down their potions. Careful not to spill a drop of the potion, Hermione closed the door.

It was definitely the weirdest thing that she'd ever felt. Insides writhing, she doubled over, gasping from the sudden burning sensation. The worst part was how she felt like she was _melting. _At least she'd had the foresight to take her shoes and robes off.

Suddenly, thankfully, she stopped growing. Hermione stood up, nearly banging her head several times on the wall and door. She'd have to grow accustomed to this new height if she didn't want to arouse suspicion. Quickly, she changed into the other clothes, which would have been many sizes too large before.

"Ron?" Not used to hearing such a low voice come from her mouth, she clapped her hands across it before realizing that this was supposed to happen.

"Yeah."

_It worked!_ Hermione felt a sense of accomplishment. If only she could show Professor Snape this and prove her potion-making competence.

She stepped out of the stall to see Harry staring at her in amazement. He grinned, and Hermione grinned back.

"Ugh. Don't smile." She gave him a confused look. "It looks weird on Goyle."

Resolving not to look in the mirrors (that would just be too weird), Hermione looked at Ron. Exactly the same as Crabbe.

"This is unbelievable," said Ron, looking into a mirror. "Unbelievable."

"So do I just follow you under this?" Harry held up his Invisibility Cloak.

Hermione nodded. "Be careful not to brush against anybody though."

"Yeah," said Harry, rolling his eyes. "It'll be a lot easier with only one person. And no Ron going, 'Stop stepping on my foot!'" Ron stomped on Harry's foot.

"Don't like it, do you?"

"Your foot's so much larger now!"

"We should get going," said Hermione, interrupted what was sure to be a mini-stomp fight that would waste more of their limited time.

"I'll stay behind you and tell you where to go." Harry brought the cloak over his head and disappeared.

While they were walking down to the dungeons (_This is so dreary)_, Hermione heard Harry whisper directions in their ear and Ron whisper instructions in her. 'Don't look like you're thinking too hard, stop trying to think, answer questions slowly, walk stiffly, act relaxed around the Slytherins…'

Luckily for them, Malfoy was approaching from the opposite direction. He seemed to be talking to Percy, who left quickly.

"There you are," said Malfoy. "Have you two been pigging out in the Great Hall all this time? I've been looking for you; I want to show you something funny." He turned to Hermione. "What's the new password again?"

"Um…"

"Pureblood," whispered Harry. Hermione could just hear the exasperation in his voice. Before she could say anything, however, Malfoy remembered and opened the stone door which concealed the Slytherin Common Room.

"This place is so gloomy," whispered Ron. Hermione nodded in agreement.

Behind them, Harry whispered, "You get used to it."

"Wait here. I'll go and get it; my father's just sent it to me-"

Hermione and Ron both sat down on the couch, trying to look casual.

"He seems a bit subdued," noted Ron. Hermione shrugged. "He'd usually be jumping up and down with excitement or something stupid like that."

"Aren't you just the teeniest biased?" Before Ron could reply, Malfoy was back with a newspaper clipping, which he thrust in front of them.

"That'll give you a laugh." Malfoy turned his head to the side as if he had heard something.

They both read through it, sharing a few angry and worried glances. Eventually, they finished reading, making sure to take much longer than they needed to, and forced out a laugh.

_Poor Mr. Weasley. Poor Mrs. Weasley. Poor Ron._

"Arthur Weasley loves Muggles so much he could snap his wand in half and go and join them," said Malfoy. This time, Hermione noticed that his words were lacking a sincere bite. Instead, he looked like he was trying to cheer himself up. "You'd never know the Weasleys were purebloods, the way they behave."

Hermione watched Ron's/Crabbe's face contort with fury. Inconspicuously, she stepped on his foot.

"What's up with you, Crabbe?" asked Malfoy, not sounding particularly concerned.

"…Stomach ache."

"Well, go up to the hospital wing and give all those Mudbloods a kick from me." Hermione had half a mind to stand up and punch him in the face despite the consequences they would have to face. Luckily, Harry got there first.

Hermione nearly snickered out loud as Malfoy shivered. Harry had blown air across his neck.

"Is there a draft in here or something?" The Slytherin scowled as another small breeze made him shiver again. Looking confused, he swatted the spot beside his ear absentmindedly.

Hermione could see that they would have to start the conversation. "Do you know who the Heir is?" She tried making her voice sound hopeful instead of disgusted.

"I wish I knew who it is."

"You must have some idea who's behind it all," prompted Ron.

"You know I haven't, Goyle, how many times do I have to tell you? And Father won't tell me anything about the last time the Chamber was opened either. Of course, it was fifty years ago, so it was before his time, but he knows all about it, and he says that it was all kept quiet and it'll look suspicious if I know too much about it. But I know one thing: last time the Chamber of Secrets was opened, a Mudblood died. So I bet it's a matter of time before one of them's killed this time…"

"D'you know if the person who opened the Chamber last time was caught?"

"Oh, yeah… whoever it was was expelled. They're probably still in Azkaban." Here, Malfoy sighed. "Father says to keep my head down and let the heir of Slytherin get on with it. He says the school needs ridding of all the Mudblood filth, but not to get mixed up in it. Of course, he's got a lot on his plate at the moment." His words sounded like he was reciting a lecture or prepared speech rather than stating his opinion.

_I wonder how things are in his family._

"You know the Ministry of Magic raided our manor last week?" An awkward pause as both Hermione and Ron triedto look concerned. "Yeah… Luckily, they didn't find much. Father's got some very valuable Dark Arts stuff. But luckily, we've got our own secret chamber under the drawing-room floor."

Hermione had to step on Ron's foot again to make him wipe of the satisfied grin on his face. _He's going to get us caught!_

She looked at him, trying to pierce him under her 'professor glare' (though how effective it would be with Goyle's face she didn't know) when she registered the look of horror on Ron's/Crabbe's face.

_Isn't Crabbe's hair… not red? Uh-oh…_

Abruptly, the two of them jumped up.

"Medicine for my stomach," Ron called over his shoulder as they exited. Hermione looked back to see an extremely confused Malfoy.

Miraculously, they managed to make it back to Moaning Myrtle's bathroom before they turned fully back to their own person, though they did pass a puzzled first year on their way.

"Well, it wasn't a complete waste of time," said Ron. "I know we still haven't found out who's doing the attacks, but I'm writing to Dad tomorrow and telling him to check under Malfoy's drawing room."

"And we can check Draco off our list of suspects. Meaning that we now have… nobody as a suspect." Hermione sighed. Well, at least the potion worked properly. It was good to know that she did it properly and wasn't stuck as Goyle forever.

Hermione and Ron both jumped, startled, as Harry's head appeared out of nowhere.

"Is he trying to get me to hate him?" muttered Harry. The silver cloak fell to the floor.

"Well, granted, he didn't know you were there," said Hermione.

Ron nodded. "He never would've spoken like that if he knew you were there."

"But that means he's censoring his talking around me."

Hermione sighed, slightly annoyed. "Are you two going to make up or not? Honestly, watching you be angry at him and watching him moping around…"

"Hey," protested Harry. "He's the one that's talking about killing Muggleborns."

"That's how a lot of the Pureblood families are, though, Harry," said Ron. "There are only a few families that go against that publically, mine being one of them. But then again, Pureblood families are running out." At Harry's confused look, Ron added, "Well, if you have to marry a Pureblood, you'll end up having to marry your cousin or something…"

"Aren't those the most awkward family reunions ever," said Harry, tilting his head to one side as if he were actually thinking about it.

The three of them talked for a while longer, aware of the gap in their conversation where Melanie would've been, before heading to their respective dorms for the night.

**{A/N Not terribly interesting, but still something that needed to be done. No Hermione-cat this time around.}**

**~ScaleneGalleons~**


	14. Draco

**{A/N Chapter Fourteen. Melanie POV now (yay?) Anyways, thanks to Dazer95 (Harry's just brilliant at being stealthy. XD) and That Elusive Reader (Yikes. Trying to make a schedule? I feel bad for you. Honestly, to quote Gilderoy Lockhart, 'Fame is a fickle friend'. Can't believe I just quoted him… O_O And I liked CatHermione too (it make me laugh) but I decided to do it this way, just because Harry would've been inclined to punching Draco now that they are/were friends. You mean Siriusly, as in: Siriusly, I thank you for reading.) for reviewing! :D Anyways, onto the chapter.**

**Still not J.K. Rowling… Unfortunately.}**

Melanie sighed. There were only so many times you could run through people and scare them before it got boring.

Besides being annoyed about being bored, she was even more annoyed now that they didn't have the potions ready to revive her and the other petrified victims yet (honestly though; a school full of teachers and no results yet? Did nobody else in the entire magical community have mandrakes?).

Most of her time would be spent following Draco around. She'd been trying to talk to him, but it hadn't seemed to be working well so far. There were a few times where he had seemed to hear something, but not exactly what she said.

So Melanie was bored, lonely, bored, tired, bored and did she mention bored?

Now that the mischievous feeling of startling somebody had worn off, there were really only two things she could do. Follow somebody or fall into a kind of 'trance' like state. Though, that last option wasn't really something she chose to do; it just seemed to happen periodically.

For instance, she'd had it when that mad Bludger (_Dobby's insane!_) chased Harry around the field. Melanie had just sat down on the Slytherin couch and drifted off.

**_The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches… Born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies… and the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows now… and either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives…_**

Melanie had 'woken up' feeling vaguely scared. That phrase kept echoing in her mind and there were… some people that she couldn't remember. She was pretty sure that Harry was one of them, however. There were three others beside him. But... she couldn't remember exactly what happened.

It was like trying to catch water with her hands; it kept dripping away until all she had was a small bit. The words.

Somehow, she'd heard the words and ended up 'sleeping' for almost a week.

The second time was right after the whole Dueling Club incident (_not much of a club if there's only going to be one meeting, huh?_).

**_First day of Hogwarts… Boating across the lake, but who was that sitting by her? A boy with dirty blond hair, smiling nervously. The lights from the castle reflected off the lake. Combined with the starry sky, the entire lake was glowing with light… "Gryffindor! Gryffindor! Slytherin! Ravenclaw! Hufflepuff!" Everybody cheered no matter what House was called. The hat slid over her eyes and it shouted, "Gryffindor!"_**

**_Year gone, another, then another until she was in her final year. "Can't believe it…" the boy muttered. "We need to do something." "How?" she questioned. A thin smile was his response. "We need to go back."_**

Melanie woke up. For a second, it felt like the entire thing was just a dream. She'd wake up, not next to Harry in the Dursleys' house, but in an orange bed. Looking to the side, she'd see an oddly shaped lamp.

But no… She could still kind of see through herself (a side effect of being petrified weirdly, she supposed). Sighing heavily, she stood up and stretched.

"Wait… What's the date?" She drifted off to Harry's dorm and looked at the wall, where she knew there was a calendar.

_Oh… _It was Christmas.

"That was the longest nap I've ever taken…" Well, at least she wasn't bored during it. And that was how she ended up on the Slytherin couch, moaning about being bored to herself.

Melanie looked over as the Slytherin Common Room entrance opened. She nearly laughed aloud as she remembered what would be happening.

'Goyle' was looking around the Slytherin Common Room with a fascinated expression which Melanie recognized as Hermione's. _She's not that good at staying undercover. _

Ron wasn't much better; Crabbe's face was a mask of shock as he looked around the Common Room.

Harry was probably the worst. Melanie could see his trainers peeking out from under the Invisibility Cloak. The shoes occasionally disappeared as Harry pulled the Cloak further down to cover himself up properly.

_He's not that tall, is he?_

Melanie wasn't sure whether to be frustrated or amused. It was funny seeing how bad the three of them were at staying emotionless (and how completely oblivious Draco was), but really? Couldn't they stop bugging Draco? He was feeling bad enough without them using Polyjuice potion to check whether or not they should report him for being the Heir.

She did her best not to do anything, humming while sitting next to Draco. Two times it seemed like he had heard her, which was definitely an improvement.

"So…" she said, knowing that Draco wouldn't be able to hear her. The Slytherin shrugged, looking away from the entrance through which Hermione and Ron had retreated. He went to his dorm, putting the newspaper clipping away, and came back with homework.

"So… Twelve uses for dragon blood? Isn't that first year material?" Melanie shook her head in mock despair. "How are you supposed to learn if Snape keeps reviewing old material? Besides, everybody should know this by now."

Quickly, she reviewed the uses in her mind, making sure that she hadn't forgotten anything. The only way she got any work done this year was following Draco around and doing his homework mentally.

Melanie got up, restlessly pacing around the Common Room. _Bored, bored, bored, bored, bored, bored, bored._ Honestly, even Potions homework wasn't interesting enough. Melanie had an irrational thought that Snape was doing it on purpose to annoy her.

_It would be just like that old bat. _Though, she did feel a twinge of sympathy at her thought. Melanie could practically _feel _the bad moods radiating off him, and it wasn't all mean. There was also loneliness, buried underneath a heavy blanket of intimidation.

"What the hell!" Melanie turned back to Draco to see what was wrong. His eyes were wide with shock and his quill, which he had presumably dropped, was resting on the floor.

"Hmm?" Melanie looked around the Common Room, but there was nothing out of the ordinary. She turned back to Draco and realized that he was looking at her.

_At _her.

"Oh." A failed attempted to pick up the dropped quill ascertained that she was still incorporeal.

"What the hell?" repeated Draco.

"I heard you the first time."

"But – what – huh?"

"You're very good at speaking. Almost as good as Harry, in fact." Draco narrowed his eyes as she mentioned Harry.

"Well," said Draco, "excuse me if I'm a bit shocked."

Melanie curtsied mockingly. "Please pardon my error, your majesty. Would thou like a formal apology or wouldst this suffice?"

Draco's lips twitched into a smile. "Well, you are supposed to be…"

"Petrified by the big, scary Slytherin monster?"

"Yes." He turned his head slightly. "What is it anyways?"

_Uh… A basilisk? _But she couldn't force the words out of her mouth. Instead, she just shrugged, averting her eyes to the mantelpiece on the fireplace. "Didn't get a good look at it." That was true enough; she'd only seen the reflection of the eyes in the puddle.

"Are you dead, then? Is that why you look like a ghost?"

"Nice to see how concerned you are," said Melanie, rolling her eyes. "No, I'm not dead. If I was, do you think they'd be keeping me in the Hospital Wing?"

"I'm dreaming," muttered Draco.

Melanie winked teasingly. "Nice to know you think dreaming about me is normal."

Now it was his turn to roll his eyes. "Well, as long as you're here, help me with this." He held up the one sentence he had written for the twelve uses of dragon blood.

"Pitiful that you don't know this." Melanie shook her head in mock despair. "And your Head of House is the Potions master."

"Can you tend to a plant?" When she didn't answer, Draco smirked. "I thought not."

_Not my fault that plants seem to dislike me. _In response, she stuck her tongue out at him.

~.~.~.~.~

January was much better than the months preceding it; Melanie wasn't as bored anymore. There was somebody she could talk to, although she seemed to have disappeared from view. The only 'trance vision' that she had was the day before Valentine's day.

Faces flashed before her and names echoed in her mind. **_Bertha Jorkins, Cedric Diggory, Sirius Black, Professor Dumbledore, Hedwig, Rufus Scrimgeour, Dobby, Crabbe, Fred, Remus Lupin, Numphadora Tonks, Colin Creevey, Professor Snape…_**

She wasn't exactly sure what they meant, but she knew that it was a warning of some sort. She didn't even know some of the people mentioned, which would make the warning somewhat difficult to understand.

Melanie sighed. Being omniscient was tiring.

She 'woke up' on Valentine's morning and laughed. Her laughing woke up Draco, who made a pillow fall on top of Harry, who threw a pillow back a Draco, who threw a pillow back at Harry and missed, hitting Theodore.

"Is this going to happen _every _year?" complained Theodore, sounding overly grumpy. He smirked as his throw resulted in a pillow to Draco's face.

"Whoops," said Melanie. Draco jumped a foot in the air, regaining composure and his dignity by the chance that there was a small, pointy rock where his foot had been a second ago.

"Sorry I woke you up," she apologized, "but just wait until you see what Lockhart has planned for you. I'm so glad that I'm petrified."

Draco's face turned to one of worry. Theodore turned to him with a raised eyebrow. "What's the matter with you?"

Quickly, Draco came up with an excuse. "I forgot to do the Transfiguration work." While Theodore groaned in sympathy for him, Draco lowered his voice and said, "What d'you mean?"

Melanie just smiled mischievously, knowing that Draco couldn't see. "You'll see."

And that was when Blaise woke up, grumpy and tired, preventing Draco from asking Melanie any further questions. Blaise's irritation was enough to intimidate Draco into getting up and ready for the day.

"No, seriously, Melanie." Draco was walking along the wall, whispering to where he was sure Melanie was. "What's going-"

His question was cut off as he entered the Great Hall.

"Oh, Merlin."

Melanie burst out laughing. Everything was so… _girly. _It was so Lockhart that it practically burned her eyes. Flowers decorated the walls and, somehow, Lockhart had enough ability to enchant heart-shaped confetti to fall from the ceiling.

Looking around the Great Hall, Melanie could see that all the boys were looking displeased, on a scale from slightly to Snape, who looked like being forced to sit in a pink room was a type of punishment that not even the worst criminals should be subjected to. Meanwhile, the girls were all giggling and looking around in wonder, even Hermione, to Melanie's surprise and disgust.

Draco groaned as he sat down. Melanie watched him dust off the confetti from his food.

"Told you I'm glad that I'm petrified."

"…I wish I was too."

Lockhart stood up from the teacher's table. "Happy Valentine's Day! And may I thank the forty-five people who have so far sent me cards!" _So that means Hermione finally understands that he's a fraud… _"Yes, I have taken the liberty of arranging this little surprise for you all… and it doesn't end here!"

The 'professor' clapped his hands and through the doors marched a dozen dwarfs dressed up as…

"Cupids?" asked a bemused Draco.

"Cupids," confirmed Melanie.

"My friendly, card-carrying cupids!"

"They're anything but friendly," warned Melanie.

"They'll be roving around the school today delivering your valentines! And the fun-"

"What fun?" whispered Draco.

"-doesn't stop here! I'm sure my colleagues will want to enter into the spirit of the occasion! Why not ask Professor Snape to show you how to whip up a Love Potion!" Here, Lockhart had to stop talking as the students all burst into laughter. None of them could imagine asking Snape about any type of potion, let alone a love potion.

"And, while you're at it, Professor Flitwick knows more about Entrancing Enchantments than any wizard I've ever met, the sly old dog!"

Knowing Fred and George, they'd be the first ones to ask about Entrancing Enchantments.

Across the Great Hall, at the Gryffindor table, Melanie saw Ron ask Hermione a question, to which she responded with a vigorous shake of her head. The two boys looked greatly relieved.

By the first class, Melanie was dissolving into fits of laughter every time a dwarf came into the classroom.

By the second class, the entire class would start laughing along with her, except for the unlucky recipient(s) of the Valentines.

"Draco?" Melanie called. Melanie felt obligated to help cheer Draco up. He stopped, looking near where she was. _Well, he's getting better at finding me by my voice._ "Follow me. But don't say _anything._"

The two of them made their way over to the crowd where Harry was being tackled by a dwarf. They arrived just in time to see the dwarf sit on Harry's ankles.

"Right," said the dwarf, looking highly irritated. "Here is your singing valentine. 'His eyes are as green as a fresh pickled toad, His hair is as dark as a blackboard, I wish he was mine, he's really divine, the hero who conquered the Dark Lord.'"

All around them, the crowd burst into laughter. Even Ron and Hermione were doubled over. Percy Weasley was doing his best to assert his authority and get people to their next classes.

"No, Draco, don't touch that. It's-"

"Give that back," said Harry. Draco looked up. Nodding, he handed Harry back the black diary, to Harry's surprise.

"Thanks." Draco nodded again and left to his next class.

"Your turn," Melanie whispered as the 'cupid' handed Draco a card. The card was decorated with glitter and confetti, although whether the confetti was put on it on purpose or by accident Melanie didn't know.

He flushed pink and stuffed the card into his Potions book, which he subsequently stuffed into his bag.

"Aw," pouted Melanie. "You're no fun. You have to show me later." When Draco gave a barely perceptible nod, Melanie whined. "Pleeeeeeeeeeee-"

"Fine!" he whispered, just a bit too loudly. Half of the class, along with the teacher, turned to stare at him.

After class, however, Draco definitely regretted that decision. He tried to be nonchalant, leaning against a wall and reading his card, which was being blocked by his Potions textbook. However, his pink cheeks gave it away.

Melanie was practically floating on him. _Quaffles are brown, Snitches are gold, I think I love you, If I may be bold._

"Stop laughing!" he hissed. Melanie ignored him and doubled over, laughing so loudly that even a few passer bys seemed to hear something.

"Who – do you – think that's – from?"

"Probably Pansy." Draco wrinkled his nose and stuck out his tongue. "Yay."

"That's so sweet," Melanie said in a sugary voice.

"I wonder how many you would've gotten," said Draco teasingly.

"None." At Draco's confused look, Melanie rolled her eyes. "When your twin brother is the saviour of the Wizarding world, nobody really notices you." She heaved a sigh, cheering up when Draco held out the poem for her to read again.

"Stop laughing," he insisted, to no avail.

"Sorry, but just read that last line again!" Draco's lips twitched into a smile, which broke into a wide grin. Eventually, both of them were doubled over in laughter, but only Draco was visible.

"If I – get the reputation for – being crazy I'll – blame you," he gasped out.

**{A/N Filler? Meh, this was fun to write. Besides, I felt kinda bad that Draco has no (good) friends now that Harry's mad at him. Draco can see her because Melanie really wanted him to (subconsciously) where as she wanted Harry to see her (consciously). That doesn't make much sense now that I've written it out… XD. Also, as you can tell, I come up with amazing (not) rhymes.}**

**~ScaleneGalleons~**


	15. Another Day, Another Victim

**{A/N Chapter Fifteen. Thanks to Dazer95 (Glad you liked it! :D) for reviewing. Nothing really to say, except that I'm still not J.K. Rowling and I will never be.}**

"Hagrid?" Hermione's eyes widened in disbelief. "Are you absolute sure, Harry?" When he nodded, Hermione continued in her denial. "Riddle might have got the wrong person. Maybe it was some other monster that was attacking people…"

"How many monsters d'you think this place can hold?" asked Ron. Hermione could almost see the gears in his head turning as he processed this new information and tried to fit it into what they already knew.

"We always knew Hagrid had been expelled," said Harry, sounding extremely miserable at having to admit this. "And the attacks must've stopped after Hagrid was kicked out. Otherwise, Riddle wouldn't have got his award."

"The monster killed someone…" Hermione said in disbelief. _Thank goodness this didn't happen this time. _

_Ah! I hope I didn't just jinx it._

"And Riddle was going to go back to some Muggle orphanage if they closed Hogwarts. I don't blame him for wanting to stay here." 'I wouldn't have wanted to go back to the Dursleys' was what Hermione interpreted from his words.

"You met Hagrid down Knockturn Alley, right, Harry?" asked Ron.

"He was buying a Flesh-Eating Slug Repellent." _Wait, why would Hagrid need a Flesh-Eating Slug Repellent?_

A moment of pause later, Hermione asked, "Do you think we should go and ask Hagrid about it all?"

"That'd be a cheerful visit." Ron snorted with laughter. "'Hello, Hagrid. Tell us, have you been setting anything mad and hairy loose in the castle lately?'"

"Well, we don't know if it's hairy," Harry pointed out.

"Yes, we don't know if it's you," said Ron. Harry took a moment to catch on before rolling his eyes.

"Ha ha, very funny."

Ron narrowed his eyes. "I don't understand. This doesn't seem right." Hermione and Harry both nodded in agreement, though Hermione because she actually thought the story didn't make sense rather than Hagrid wouldn't do it.

With no attacks in February or March, the gossip about Harry seemed to die down. The Hufflepuffs were polite to Harry. Overly polite, but polite nonetheless. Peeves finally stopped following Harry and singing, much to the boy's relief.

Best of all, the Mandrakes seemed to be maturing. That, however dangerous for the living occupants of Hogwarts, was good news for the petrified victims. People were hoping that the potion would be ready in time for the victims to wake up and tell everybody who the Heir was.

During the Easter holidays, the second years were given a list of subjects to choose for their third year.

"It could affect our whole future!" Hermione exclaimed. _Arithmancy, Ancient Runes, Muggle Studies, Care of Magical Creatures, Divination. _She ran the subject names over and over in her head.

_Arithmancy is the magical properties of numbers. A part of it is trying to predict the future with numbers. _Hermione felt a thrill of fascination. It would be amazing to learn about numbers and how wizards perceived them differently from Muggles. Muggles found numbers to represent things, wizards found things to represent numbers. _Bridget Wenlock discovered the magical property of numbers in the 13th century…_

_Ancient Runes, typically a theoretical class, apparently. They can be used for spells, charms, wards… _The possibilities ran through Hermione's mind. _It would be interesting to learn all the runes…_

_Muggle Studies…_ She could hear a side of her brain saying that she was a Muggleborn and she didn't need Muggle Studies and it would be a waste of time. But the Ravenclaw part of her longed to know how wizards thought Muggles were. _What do they think microwaves are? How do they think science works? Televisions? Computers?_

_Care of Magical Creatures. _Hermione sighed. If they had it this year, they might be able to find out what the Heir's monster was. _Still, it would be amazing to learn about it. Unicorns, Fire salamanders, Centaurs, Hippogriffs…_

_Divination. _Being able to predict the future would be amazing. If they had a good teacher, they should all be able to make vaguely accurate predictions by the end of their first year, though only those with the 'Sight' would be able to make real predictions.

"I just want to give up Potions," Hermione heard Harry say.

"We can't." _You agree with him!? _Hermione could never give up a subject. "We keep all our old subjects, or I'd've ditched Defense Against the Dark Arts."

"But that's very important!" _For Harry more than everybody else, actually. _What if Voldemort came back again? They'd need to know what to do.

"Not the way Lockhart teaches it." Hermione had to agree with Ron there. Now that she'd gotten over her fascination with the 'achievements,' she wondered how she could've fallen for that in the first place. "I haven't learned anything from him except not to set pixies loose."

In the library, they heard a groan of exasperation. They peeked out of their private room to see another owl swoop down on Neville, who was receiving dozens of letters about which subjects he should choose.

"Should we-"

"Yeah." Harry stood up, followed by Hermione and Ron. The three of them sat at the table with Neville.

"Neville," said Ron, "how's the choosing going?"

The Gryffindor lifted his head from the table long enough to give Ron a frustrated look. "Horrid. Everybody keeps telling me different things and telling me not to listen to this person or another person."

"How many people has that been so far?" Ron gave Neville a sympathetic look when he held up a thick stack of letters as thick as their textbooks.

"Tough luck," said Harry sympathetically.

Hermione looked down at the sheet where he'd written down his reasons for taking one elective or another. "Well, Neville, what subjects did you want to choose?"

"Well…" He looked at the sheet was well. "I don't know anymore. I actually just wanted to taken Care of Magical Creatures and Divination but... This." Neville sighed, burying his head in his hands.

"Well, this one seems to be encouraging. 'Choose whatever you want.'" Harry held up the letter, which was, apparently, from an Uncle Vincent.

"Read the back," said Neville, his voice slightly muffled.

"Oh. 'P.S. Don't listen to what Aunt Muriel says.'"

"Well then." Hermione read through a few of the other letters, most of which had the same things. 'Choose what you want, but I suggest this and you shouldn't listen to blank or blank.'

"This makes me glad that I can't talk about this with my relatives." Harry snorted with laughter.

"Maybe you should just go with Care of Magical Creatures and Divination, then, Neville," suggested Hermione.

"Maybe." Neville sighed again and began to reread his letters.

"Poor Neville," said Hermione once they were back in their 'private' room. Harry and Ron both nodded in agreement.

"I'm so glad Mum isn't sending me suggestions. If I had everybody in the family sending me letters…" Ron shuddered at the thought.

"You'd be swamped in letters every morning," said Harry, causing him and Hermione to start laughing.

Ron gave them a strange look. "You don't know how big my family is."

"Should we ask them for suggestions?" Hermione was eager to hear as many opinions as she could; this was a very important decision.

"No." When Hermione gave him a questioning look, Ron said, "Fred and George will end up convincing you to take a horrible subject or telling you that a subject is good so you think that they're lying and you'll end up taking something else. Bill and Charlie would take too long to respond anyways. Ginny is a year younger than us."

"What about Percy?"

"_Never _ask Percy anything about school unless you want to be stuck in an hour long lecture. Though, you might not mind that, Hermione."

Hermione stuck her tongue out at him. She was hit by a sudden idea. _Maybe I could choose all of them!_

In the end, that's exactly what she ended up doing. Ron and Harry, however, just chose Care of Magical Creatures and Divination (like Neville). Their reasoning was that even if they were horrible at the subject, there would be somebody to be horrible with them.

The next Quidditch match was Gryffindor versus Hufflepuff, which everybody was excited for. The excitement wasn't being suppressed by any new petrified victims, which was doubly good for the castle.

The day before the match, however, Harry was in a bad mood. Somebody had stolen his bag in the Great Hall and scattered everything just outside the Slytherin entrance.

"All that's missing is the diary," Harry said to Ron and Hermione. "Although, an ink bottle was smashed."

"Well, that's not Peeves then. He would've loved to destroy everything in your bag and he would've just ripped up the diary instead of taking it," Ron pointed out.

"It could actually be anybody." _Maybe somebody stole the diary because they thought it was Harry's personal diary._

The next morning, there was still no sign of Riddle's diary. However, the excitement must have been infectious for even the three, troubled as they were about the diary, were grinning like crazy as the game approached.

They left the Great Hall to go check around the Slytherin entrance one more time before the game when Harry shouted, "The voice!"

Hermione and Ron jumped, not having expected this.

"I just heard it again – didn't you?"

_Uh oh._ Ron shook his head, but Hermione suddenly had an epiphany.

_Wait… Why is Harry only hearing this? _She tried to remember what she heard just before Harry had jumped up. _All I heard was some footsteps further down the hallway and… Hissing? Maybe some pipes. WAIT NO! I remember now!_

She slapped her forehead, remembering what she had theorized when she'd been interrupted before. Her train of though was suddenly fixed and racing down the tracks.

_A basilisk! It must be traveling through the pipes. Only Harry can hear it because he's the only Parseltongue!_ It made so much sense now.

"Harry – I think I've just understood something! I've got to go to the library!" _Just to be sure._

Hermione didn't wait for a response before she sprinted away to the library. Sprinting as though her life depended on it, which it might for all she knew, she made it into the library with no incident. Exhaling in relief, she ran to where she knew a book she needed would be.

"Miss Granger?" Madam Pince called out, sounding confused.

"Just looking for something," she panted. _Hippogrifs, Dragons, Basilisks, Phoe- Basilisks!_

Knowing which book contained what information, somehow, she grabbed the basilisk book and flipped to the exact page.

Scanning the page, she nodded. "This is it!"

Feeling only slightly guilty, she faked a cough and ripped out the page that she needed. Promising to repair it when she got back, she scrunched the paper up in her hand and put the book back into its spot.

"Found it – Need to go – Bye!" She yelled to Madam Pince, only faintly hearing a stern, "Don't shout in the library!" as she left.

Hermione kept the paper balled up in her fist, not wanting to take any chances with dropping it. She stopped abruptly right in front of Penelope Clearwater, almost running into her.

"Penelope!" The prefect stopped and looked back. "I know what the monster is!"

"What?"

"It's a basilisk. No time to explain but – do you have a mirror?" With a slight blush, Penelope held out a small mirror. "Okay. Use this to look around the corner. Just in case."

Looking as if she understood, the prefect held the mirror out so they could see what was around the corner.

Perhaps it wasn't Hermione's best idea to look into the mirror as well, but it was too late to stop it. She stood up on her tippy toes to look over Penelope's shoulder and into the mirror.

Maybe the slight hissing sound should've tipped Hermione off, but she was focusing too much on getting this information to Ron and Harry to hear it.

Yellow eyes reflected off the mirror.

_Damn!_

**{A/N Read and review! :D}**

**~ScaleneGalleons~**


	16. Incompetent Ministry

**{A/N Chapter Sixteen. Thanks to Dazer95 (Thanks again! :D) and That Elusive Reader (Melanie is fun to write because she doesn't already have a pre-existing character model for me to try and fit into. XD Poor Hermione, though, missing school. Not just school, HOGWARTS.) for reviewing. I don't know if I say this enough, but every review makes me cheer insanely and I appreciate every single one of you readers *less than three* 3.}**

Hermione opened her eyes, groaning, She must've hit her head as she fell.

Wait, why did she fall?

_Oh yeah… _She was so close. All she needed to do was not look around that corner, maybe go another way to the Quidditch field. But then Penelope probably would've been killed. _I guess it was worth it._

Sighing, Hermione sat up. That's when she realized that she was floating.

"What the-"

Standing up (floating up), she looked around. This wasn't the Hospital Wing. Isn't that where the petrified victims were supposed to be taken?

"Odd…" She'd expected to have woken up months later, when the Mandrakes were ready for a potion, but instead, it seemed like it was only seconds after her being petrified.

"This isn't supposed to happen…" She looked to her right, expected to see Penelope floating beside her. Instead, she saw a solid Penelope lying on the ground. Hermione could see a sort of ghost figure floating right on Penelope, but both Penelope's were still.

Hermione shivered as her eyes landed on her own body. It was just too weird.

_Wait… Did I actually die? Am I a ghost now?_

She panicked for a minute before she realized that she was petrified. Hermione shook her head and face palmed.

Footsteps were heard down the hallway and Hermione ducked behind a corner instinctively before she realized that whoever it was wouldn't be able to see her anyways.

"Oh, dear," said Professor McGonagall, covering her mouth. Sighing, she levitated both Hermione (her body) and Penelope. With no idea of what else she should do, Hermione followed the professor.

"Albus. There's been another one. Two this time."

The headmaster's eyes stopped twinkling. "Miss Granger and Miss Clearwater. Two Ravenclaws." He heaved a sigh and followed Professor McGonagall on her way to the Hospital Wing.

"Minerva?" She turned to look at him. "Cancel the Quidditch match. Bring Mr. Potter and Mr. Weasley here; they'll want to see this."

Unhappily, the Gryffindor Head of House left to go cancel the match.

Hermione hovered awkwardly near the bed where she was, trying not to look at herself. The door to the Hospital Wing opened and she saw Harry and Ron follow Professor McGonagall in.

"… another attack… another double attack."

"Hermione!"

"The one and only," she said glumly. For a second, Ron seemed to have heard her.

"They were found near the library," said Professor McGonagall. "I don't suppose either of you can explain this? It was on the floor next to them…"

_The mirror! _Maybe she could tell them why they needed it.

"Ron, can you hear me?" No response, but she wasn't really expecting one.

"Ron!" Still no response. She decided to try anyways. "Okay, the monster is a basilisk and I needed the mirror, which is Penelope's just by the way, so that if we looked at the monster's reflection we wouldn't die. It's been traveling through the pipes and only Harry can hear it because he's a Parseltongue and… you can't even hear me." Hermione sighed again.

"I will escort you back to your Common Rooms," said Professor McGonagall.

The three of them left, leaving Hermione alone with Madam Pomfrey fussing over the two girls.

"Madam Pomfrey? Can you hear me?" No response.

_This is so frustrating! Why am I the only one? What if everybody is stuck in another parallel dimension where they're the only one and the only way to save them is using a Mandrake potion._

"Hermione?" She jumped in shock. Right in front of her was Melanie, pale and ghostly, but still Melanie.

"How can you see me? Wait, no, don't answer that; it's because you're also petrified, isn't it."

Melanie shrugged. "Finally! I've been waiting for you."

"How'd you know I'd be petrified?" Hermione narrowed her eyes, more irritated with the fact that she was petrified than at Melanie.

"I, uh-"

"Cut it out! It's time you told me, and Ron, and Harry, what's been going on."

"It's just – I can't-"

"What do you mean you _can't?_"

Melanie rolled her eyes. "I have an inability to tell you what's going on. Like, literally." Looking mock-patronizingly at Hermione, she said, "Can't. As in cannot. Got it?"

Hermione wasn't sure if she believed it, but let it slide for now.

"So… You've been like this for months?" Melanie nodded. "Must've been lonely."

"Yeah, it was for the first bit."

"Is there somebody else? Oh, please don't tell me it's Mrs. Norris. Or Colin."

Melanie laughed. "Imagine Colin trying to take pictures of us. No, it's Draco."

The only way Hermione could've been more surprised was if Melanie told her that it was Filch who could talk to them.

"Him?"

"Don't say it like that; he's kind of lonely. Nobody in Slytherin is really friends with him other than Harry and, well. You know what's happened to that this year."

Hermione frowned. "Isn't Mal – Draco…"

"Mean?" Nod. "Hates Muggleborns?" Nod. "Egotistical?" Another nod. "Well… not as much anymore. He can be nice and funny."

"…I hope he can't see me."

"Oh, follow me," said Melanie, looking around. She sort of drift-walked out the Hospital Wing, across the grounds of Hogwarts, and to Hagrid's hut.

"Why are we here?" Melanie waved a hand impatiently and shushed her.

_I still don't understand why we're here._

Nobody was standing there. Suddenly, Harry's and Ron's heads appeared out of nowhere. Hermione watched the Cloak fall to the ground, revealing the rest of the two boys.

"Watch." Seconds later, the door was flung open to reveal Hagrid pointing a crossbow at them.

"Oh." Hagrid lowered the weapon and stared at the boys. "What're you two doin' here?"

"What's that for?" Harry asked as they moved inside the hut. Hermione sent a questioning look at Melanie, who followed Harry inside the hut.

"Nothin', nothin'. I've bin expectin'… Doesn' matter. Sit down, I'll make tea-"

"What's got Hagrid so distracted?" asked Hermione. Ron's head shot up and he looked around the hut only to find the absence of somebody whose voice he had just heard.

"You'll see," whispered Melanie, looking miserable.

"Are you okay, Hagrid?" asked Harry, looking concerned. He had obviously noticed how Hagrid's hands were shaking. "Did you hear about Hermione?"

"Oh, I heard, all righ'."

Hermione felt her worry grow as Hagrid handed out the boiling water (no tea bags) with shaking hands. He kept glancing at the window as if checking for somebody.

Suddenly, there was a loud knock at the door. Harry and Ron exchanged panicked looks before throwing the Invisibility Cloak over themselves and diving into the corner.

Once they were hidden, Hagrid seized his weapon and opened the door.

"Good evening, Hagrid," said Professor Dumbledore.

_This isn't going to be good… _Cornelius Fudge, the Minister of Magic, was present in the hut. Both men looked grim. Hermione heard a whisper from the corner, then a stifled groan of pain. _Oh, Ron._

Hagrid looked pale and sweaty and Hermione realized that these two were who he was checking for.

"Bad business, Hagrid. Very bad business. Had to come. Four attacks on Muggleborns."

"And me!" yelled Melanie indignantly. There was a slight pause, but Fudge continued talking.

"And a half-blood. Things've gone far enough. Ministry's got to act."

"I never. You know I never, Professor Dumbledore, sir-"

"He's not doing what I think he is…" Melanie only nodded, confirming Hermione's suspicions.

"I want it understood, Cornelius, that Hagrid has my full confidence." Professor Dumbledore frowned at Fudge, pulling a 'disappointed grandfather' look.

"Look, Albus. Hagrid's record's against him. Ministry's got to do something – the school governors have been in touch-"

"Yet again, Cornelius, I tell you that taking Hagrid away will not help in the slightest."

"What? No!" yelled Hermione. "You can't take Hagrid away!" She thought that they were just keeping him under watch or something.

Another pause as everybody seemed to hear something.

"Look at it from my point of view."

"You meant the wrong point of view?" snapped Hermione.

"I'm under a lot of pressure."

"I hope you crack."

"Got to be seen to be doing something."

"WHAT? YOU HAVE TO BE SEEN DOING SOMETHING? HOW ABOUT ACTUALLY DOING SOMETHING?"

"Hermione." She turned to look at Melanie. "I think they can kind of hear you…"

Huffing, Hermione closed her mouth, watching with distaste as the Minister opened his again.

"If it turns out if wasn't Hagrid, he'll be back and no more said. But I've got to take him. Got to. Wouldn't be doing my duty-"

"Take me? Take me where?"

"For a short stretch only." Hermione noticed that Fudge wouldn't meet Hagrid's eyes. "Not a punishment, Hagrid, more a precaution. If someone else is caught, you'll be let out with a full apology-"

"Not Azkaban?" Hagrid choked out, eyes full of fear.

Ron's gasp of horror was drowned out by a loud knock on the door. Dumbledore answered, and Hermione could hear another stifled gasp, from Harry this time.

_Azkaban… _It seemed as though the interior of the hut dropped a few degrees at that word.

Lucius Malfoy strode into Hagrid's hut, reminding Hermione strongly of Draco. He was smiling cruelly and glaring at Hagrid. "Already here, Fudge. Good, good…"

"What're you doin' here?" Hagrid said, meeting Lucius Malfoy's glare. "Get outta my house!"

"Yeah, you go Hagrid!" cheered both girls.

"My dear ma, please believe me, I have no pleasure at all in being inside you – er – d'you call this a house?" Hermione felt sorely tempted to swing her arm through his face. "I simply called you at the school and was told that the headmaster was here."

_Oh no…_ "He's not-"

"He is," confirmed Melanie, sighing.

"And what exactly did you want with me, Lucius?" Hermione shivered at hearing the cold tone of voice from their usually friendly headmaster.

"Dreadful thing, Dumbledore," said Lucius Malfoy, looking as though Christmas had come early. He took out a long roll of parchment and flaunted it. "But the governors feel it's time for you to step aside. This is an Order of Suspension – you'll find all twelve signatures on it. I'm afraid we feel you're losing your touch. How many attacks have there been now? Two more this afternoon, wasn't it? At this rate, there'll be no Muggleborns left at Hogwarts, and we all know what an awful loss that would be to the school."

_Liar! _Hermione scowled.

"Oh, now, see here, Lucius," said Fudge, finally looking concerned. "Dumbledore suspended? No, no – last thing we want just now."

"Thank you!" yelled Melanie.

"You're finally making sense," agreed Hermione.

"The appointment – or suspension – of the headmaster is a matter for the governors, Fudge. And as Dumbledore has failed to stop these attacks-"

"See here, Malfoy, if Dumbledore can't stop them, I mean to say, who can?"

"That remains to be seen. But as all twelve of us have voted-"

Suddenly, Hagrid jumped to his feet.

"An' how many did yeh have ter threaten an' blackmail before they agreed, Malfoy, eh?"

"I'd say all of them," Melanie said.

Hermione scowled again. She hated Lucius Malfoy even more now. Blackmailing and threatening governors? That just wasn't right. _Corruption in the government._

"Dear, dear, you know, that temper of yours will lead you into trouble one of these days, Hagrid. I would advise you not to shout at the Azkaban guards like that. They won't like it at all."

"Yeh can' taken Dumbledore!" Hagrid yelled. "Take him away, an' the Muggleborns won' stand a chance! There'll be killin' next!"

Hermione could only watch, helpless, as Dumbledore agreed to being taken away. His eyes flicked to the corner where Harry and Ron were as if he were giving them advice, and then he was gone with Lucius Malfoy.

Hagrid, not being nearly as inconspicuous as Dumbledore, stopped in the doorway and talked loudly into his hut for a second.

When the door shut and the four adults were gone, Ron and Harry reappeared from under the Invisibility Cloak.

"We're in trouble now," said Ron. "No Dumbledore. They might as well close the school tonight. There'll be an attack a day with him gone."

Fang howled and scratched at the door, having realized that Hagrid was gone.

The two boys sat there for a few minutes in shock before pulling the Cloak over themselves and leaving.

"This is not good," said Hermione.

**{A/N *dramatic music* Dumbledore's gone! :O Read and review.}**

**~ScaleneGalleons~**


	17. Spiders and Discoveries

**{A/N Chapter Seventeen. Thanks to Dazer95 (Thanks! :3 *gives you virtual brownies*) and That Elusive Reader (I actually raged at the book when I read that part. The thing is, something like that can actually happen in real life, though not in the wizardy sense, and this really makes me facepalm at humans in general. :3 I'm cheerful. You're absolutely brilliant for reviewing!) for reviewing! And a bazillion thanks to everybody who reads, favourites, follows, and/or reviews. It's amazing when I see an email that says that somebody F/F/R'd my story :D}**

Ron sighed. Even if summer was approaching, Hogwarts wasn't the same anymore. It was just too… empty.

There was no Hagrid walking across the grounds with Fang at his heels.

There was no Hermione lecturing them about how they should start studying for exams.

There was no Melanie, teasing Hermione about how exams were so far away and what was the point of them anyways (to which Hermione would respond with an hour-long lecture).

He and Harry had tried to go the Hospital Wing to visit Hermione and Melanie, but visitors weren't allowed there anymore.

Ron scowled when Madam Pomfrey told them that they weren't taking any chances.

_Seriously? Does she actually think that Harry's the Heir? _Ron was sure that the mediwitch's eyes had flicked to Harry suspiciously for a brief second when the two of them asked to see Hermione and Melanie.

News of Dumbledore's suspension spread like wildfire, fear accompanying it. All the students in the castle were tense and scared, jumping at any small noise. Even though summer brought a cheerful atmosphere with the sunshine, nobody in the castle was affected by it.

Ron and Harry spent all their spare time trying to find out what the monster could be.

What could Hermione have suddenly understood in those few seconds? What did Dumbledore mean by how help would always be given when needed?

_Why couldn't Hermione have just told us about whatever it was? _Silently, Ron cursed their book-reliant friend and their overly cryptic headmaster.

Hagrid's spider clue was much easier to understand, though bad for Ron. However, there wasn't a spider left in Hogwarts, much to Ron's relief. Harry looked around on the ground everywhere he went, with Ron looking around reluctantly. This was hampered by the fact that they weren't allowed to go anywhere by themselves anymore. Most of the students seemed extremely glad that they were practically being shepherded from class to class by the teachers, but both Ron and Harry found it irritating.

What was odd, however, was that compared to their 'alternate' memories, Draco Malfoy didn't seem to be basking in the fear. He wasn't nearly as scared as all the other students, but he still seemed slightly worried. Ron occasionally observed him talking to himself, which only added to his growing suspicion that something was wrong.

As they were Harry and Ron waited outside of the Defense Against Dark Arts classroom, Harry explained his plan to Ron. While Harry planned out what they would have to do, Ron was concerned about the dangerous creatures in the forest.

"Right. Er… Aren't there – aren't there supposed to be werewolves in the forest?" Harry's assurance didn't do much for Ron's nerves.

When Lockhart bounded into the room, the quiet chatting of the class stopped.

"Come now," he said, smiling brightly at the students. "Why all these long faces?"

"Gee, I don't know," mumbled Ron. "Maybe because there's a _dangerous monster _loose in Hogwarts?"

"Don't you people realize," said Lockhart, speaking patronizingly, "the danger has passed! The culprit has been taken away-"

"Says who?" Dean yelled. Applause followed his statement, mostly from the Gryffindors, though Ron saw Draco nod in agreement.

_Suspicious._

"My dear young man," said Lockhart, looking down at Dean, "the Minister of Magic wouldn't have taken Hagrid if he hadn't been one hundred percent sure he was guilty."

"Oh, yes he would," said Ron. Lockhart looked around the class with a 'isn't-this-so-cute' look on his face, only to turn back to Ron when he realized that everybody in the class was sporting similar looks.

"I flatter myself I know a touch more about Hagrid's arrest than you do, Mr. Weasley."

_Oh yeah? _Ron was just about to, foolishly, say something when Harry kicked him in the shins.

"We weren't there, remember?" Ron scowled, but closed his mouth.

Later, during the class, Harry passed a note to Ron which read, 'Let's do it tonight.'

_Oh, no… _Ron felt tempted to scrawl back a big 'NO', but he, looking at Lockhart's unremitting good attitude, and remembering his two friends, nodded.

The Gryffindor Common Room was always very crowded, meaning that Ron had no problem with sitting near the portrait so he could see it swing open when Harry came in, under the Invisibility Cloak. It took a while for Ron to be able to find an opportunity to sneak away.

_Hopefully, there'll be nothing to follow. Hopefully._

When they got Fang and entered the forest, Ron's hopes were crushed. Just ahead, two spiders were scurrying away from the wandlight, which Harry had cast, into the shade of the trees.

"Okay," sighed Ron. "I'm ready. Let's go."

They walked in silence except for the cracking of leaves and twigs beneath their shoes. Unfortunately for Ron, the steady trickle of spiders was that; steady.

Some time later, Harry jumped back and crushed Ron's foot.

"Geez, Harry. We're not even under the Cloak right now!"

"What d'you reckon?" asked Harry, ignoring Ron's pain.

As much as Ron would love to say 'Let's go back and forget this ever happened,' he knew that they had to keep going. With a sigh, Ron said, "We've come this far."

They walked in the darkness for another half hour before Fang barked. Loudly.

Both Harry and Ron jumped into the air.

"What?" Ron looked around, gripping Harry's elbow.

"There's something moving over there. Listen… sounds like something big…"

_You're very good at comforting people! _"Oh, no. Oh, no, oh, no, oh-"

"Shut up. It'll hear you."

"Hear me?" squeaked Ron. "It's already heard Fang!"

There was more rumbling noises.

"What d'you think it's doing?" asked Harry.

"Probably getting ready to pounce."

There was a pause before Harry asked, "D'you think it's gone?"

"Dunno-"

From their right came a sudden blaze of light. Both of them flung their hands in front of their eyes.

"Harry! Harry, it's our car!"

"What?"

"Come on!" Ron's relief that it wasn't something deadly was overshadowed by his amazement.

"It's been here all the time! Look at it. The forest's turned it wild." Ron leaned against the car and patted it, as it reminded him of a dog. "And we thought it was going to attack us! I wondered where it had gone!"

"We've lost the trail," said Harry. "C'mon, let's go and find them."

_We don't need to find them. _Ron couldn't say anything; he was paralyzed by fear. Right ahead of him, right behind Harry, was a giant spider. His worst nightmare.

It only got worse as the spider grabbed him by the legs and brought him further into the forest.

~.~.~.~.~

_Never again. Never again. Never again. Never again. Never. Ever. Ever. No. No. This bloody forest. Bloody Hagrid. Bloody Harry. Bloody second year._

Ron shivered in the back seat of the car. _At least I know what Melanie meant by saving me from being eaten by giant spiders…_

Ron knew that his mouth was open and he tried to shut it to no avail.

"Are you okay?" asked Harry.

_Do I look like I'm bloody okay?_

Ron couldn't say anything, choosing to stare straight ahead.

The car, thankfully, needed no driver. It smashed its way through the forest, leaving a rectangular path behind it. After ten minutes, patches of the sky were visible as the trees began to thin out.

Abruptly, the car stopped. Harry opened the door for Fang, who shot off back to Hagrid's house. Harry jumped out and Ron, after regaining control of his limbs, followed. Ron walked on shaky legs to Hagrid's pumpkin patch and promptly threw up.

"Follow the spiders," said Ron. "I'll never forgive Hagrid. We're lucky to be alive."

_Follow the spiders! Why couldn't it be follow the butterflies or something?_

"I bet he thought Aragog wouldn't hurt friends of his," defended Harry.

"That's exactly Hagrid's problem! He always thinks monsters aren't as bad as they're made out, and look where it's got him! A cell in Azkaban!" Ron shivered again, still feeling sick. "What was the point of sending us there? What have we found out, I'd like to know?"

"That Hagrid never opened the Chamber of Secrets," said Harry, throwing the Cloak over both of them. "He was innocent."

_I don't think raising a **GIANT SPIDER** in Hogwarts is exactly the epitome of INNOCENT! _Ron felt extremely grouchy. He already suspected that Hagrid didn't open the Chamber; there really wasn't the point of doing this. In his mind, they'd almost died because of a group of giant spiders for absolutely nothing.

Getting into his bed, Ron suddenly stopped.

_Wait… Aragog said that the girl who died was found in a bathroom. It isn't…_

"Moaning Myrtle," whispered Ron.

~.~.~.~.~

"Ron!" Harry said, pulling on his arm. "You know that girl who died? Aragog said-"

"Yeah, Moaning Myrtle."

Bad enough that they could've just asked Moaning Myrtle about it when they were brewing the Polyjuice Potion, Professor McGonagall informed them that they were still having exams.

_Hermione's going to throw a fit that she missed all this study time, _Ron thought as protests erupted from all around the Great Hall.

Just three days before their first exam, Professor McGonagall announced that the Mandrakes were finally ready for cutting. The petrified victims would be revived, meaning that they would be able to find out who the culprit was.

"It won't matter than we never asked Myrtle, then," Ron said to Harry. "Hermione'll probably have all the answers when they wake her up! Mind you, she'll go crazy when she finds out we've got exams in three days' time. She hasn't studied. It might be kinder to leave her where she is till they're over."

Just then, Ginny Weasley walked over and sat down next to Ron, looking tense and nervous.

_Hands twisting in lap, looking nervous, scared, not cheering._

"What's wrong?" asked Ron in a low voice.

"I've got to tell you something," she mumbled.

"What is it?" Harry paused and then said, "Is it something about the Chamber of Secrets? Have you seen something? Someone acting oddly?"

Ginny opened her mouth, about to say something when Percy Weasley appeared.

"If you've finished eating, I'll take that seat, Ginny. I'm staving, I've only just come off patrol duty."

Startled, Ginny jumped up from her seat and scampered away.

"Percy!" Ron said. "She was just about to tell us something important!"

Percy choked on his tea. "What sort of thing?"

"I just asked her if she'd seen anything odd, and she started to say-"

"Oh… That – that's nothing to do with the Chamber of Secrets."

"How do you know?"

"Well, er, if you must know, Ginny, er, walked in on me the other day when I was… Well, never mind – the point is, she spotted me doing something and I, um, I asked her not to mention it to anybody. I must say I did think she'd keep her word. It's nothing, really, I'd just rather-"

Ron grinned, his annoyance briefly overshadowed by amusement. "What were you doing, Percy? Go on, tell us, we won't laugh."

Percy ignored him.

Midmorning, Ron had the biggest surprise of his life.

"I agree, sir," said Harry to Lockhart. Ron dropped his books in surprise.

_Since when does Harry agree with Lockhart? _Ron looked at Harry's face for a second, catching a small, mischievous smile that flickered on his face for a brief moment.

_Oh…_

"Thank you, Harry. I mean, we teachers have quite enough to be getting on with, without walking students to classes and standing guard all night…"

"That's right," said Ron, trying to infuse some amazement into his voice. "Why don't you leave us here, sir, we've only got one more corridor to go-"

"You know, Weasley, I think I will. I really should go and prepare my next class-"

_Yeah, sure. _"Prepare his next class," Ron sneered once Lockhart was out of earshot. "Gone to curl his hair, more like."

They lagged back until they were separated from the rest of the Gryffindors and Slytherins. They darted down a side passage and ran towards Moaning Myrtle's bathroom. From behind them, Professor McGonagall saw them.

"Potter! Weasley! What are you doing?" The two of them froze, caught in the act.

"We were – we were. We were going to – to go and see-"

"Hermione and Melanie." Ron turned to stare at him, looking away when he realized that staring at Harry in amazement would probably ruin Harry's plan.

"We haven't seen them for ages, Professor, and we thought we'd sneak into the Hospital Wing, you know, and tell them the Mandrakes are nearly ready and, er, not to worry-"

Ron had another big surprise as Professor McGonagall's eyes started to shine. She spoke in a croaky voice.

"Of course. Of course, I realize this has all been hardest on the friends and family of those who have been… I quite understand. Yes, Potter, of course you may visit Miss Granger and your sister. I will inform Professor Binns where you've gone. Tell Madam Pomfrey I have given my permission."

_Is she… crying?_

They walked away, sighing in relief. As they turned the corner, they heard the sound of Professor McGonagall blowing her nose.

"That was the best story you've ever come up with." Ron gave Harry a high-five.

The two of them hovered awkwardly by Hermione and Melanie, looking from one to the other.

"Wonder if she did see the attacker, though? Because-"

Ron stopped, hearing a voice that sounded vaguely like Hermione's. He'd been hearing it a lot, and reasoned that perhaps it was his conscience talking to him in Hermione's voice.

**_Look_**, the voice whispered. Ron really looked at Hermione. Specifically, her arm. There seemed to be tension in it and she was making a fist. _Almost as if…_

Harry got there first. There was a piece of paper scrunched up in side her fist.

"Go on and get it out," whispered Ron. He stood, casually leaning against the bed, blocking Harry from Madam Pomfrey's view. _Not a hard task. Harry's so scrawny._

"I can't believe Hermione would damage a library book," whispered Ron. The two of them stood side by side, reading the paper.

And suddenly, everything clicked into place.

"Basilisk," they both breathed.

**{A/N They've figured it out (good job, Hermione). I just had to put in the 'butterflies' line. XD}**

**~ScaleneGalleons~**


	18. Four

**{A/N Chapter Eighteen. Thanks to Dazer95 (Thanks! :D I will try to keep it up. XD) and That Elusive Reader (A giant butterfly sucking out your fluids would be terrifying… ;~; New nightmare, thank you. Imagine Ron being scared of butterflies: he sees one and jumps into the lake. XD. Lockh(e)art is probably one of the most annoying literary characters ever) for reviewing! :3 Glad you both like my story! :D}**

"Come on, Ron," Melanie said, peering over his shoulder.

"Yeah, Ron!" cheered Hermione. "Go, Ron!" Hermione knew that Ron was more observant than Harry, more observant than any of them, meaning that he would have a better chance of noticing the paper that was scrunched up in Hermione's fist. Her petrified body's fist, that is.

When there was no change, Hermione sighed. "Ron, really _look. **Look.**_"

Ron stopped talking. _Wow, he heard me!_

"Finally," sighed Melanie. They watched as Harry managed to pull the paper out of 'her' fist. Somehow, he managed to wiggle it out without ripping the paper.

"Now just read-" Hermione didn't finish the sentence before the two of them were engulfed by a bright light.

~.~.~.~.~

"Um, what just happened?" asked Hermione. She looked expectantly at Melanie.

"I have no idea." _Oh._

"Well, this isn't good then." Hermione looked around, trying to see where they were. As far as she could tell, they were either stuck in a cloud, in a completely white room with nothing in it, no doors, and no separate walls, or just surrounded by white.

**"Four.**"

"Did you hear that?" Hermione and Melanie asked at the same time. "I guess you did," they both said.

**"There will be four."**

"Okay, this is getting creepy," said Melanie. Hermione nodded in agreement.

_I don't see a shadow of anybody… There's no megaphone. Maybe somebody's using magic to project their voice from somewhere else? _But no… They were petrified, meaning that spells shouldn't be able to affect them, which would be the only way to get them there in the first place.

"It sounds like a group of people," noted Hermione. "Has this happened before?"

Melanie hesitated. "Kind of? I've heard a voice saying something, but it usually wasn't like this."

"What did they usually say?" When Melanie didn't answer, Hermione sighed.

**"Four Naturals, back to Earth. Restoring Natural Magic."**

Hermione committed the words to memory. _Natural Magic?_

**"One to lead the way. One to banish the shadows. One to recover knowledge lost. One to forge the future path."**

_A leader, a banisher, a… recoverer, a forger._

**"There will be four. Four."**

And then the white around them faded.

~.~.~.~.~

Hermione saw black. _Are we in some black room now?_

Then she realized that her eyes were closed. Opening them, she sat up in alarm. Was she in the Hospital Wing?

Hermione felt something below her. Wait. _Something below me? Not through me?_

"Oh."

"Finally!" Hermione looked to the right, where Melanie was sitting up in her bed.

"You're awake, too," noted Hermione.

"Well, yeah. I got the potion first. I've been sitting here, waiting for you to wake up."

Hermione rolled her eyes. "Well, sorry."

"I bet you're dying to know what happened?" Hermione nodded, still slightly confused why Melanie knew, but deciding that she wanted to know this more than why.

"Okay… Basically, you know it was a basilisk?" Nod. "Well, Ginny was being possessed by Voldemort because of the diary, and she was the 'Heir.' She was supposed to have died in the Chamber, but Harry rescued her. Tada." With a mischievous grin, Melanie turned to Hermione and said, "Too bad exams are in a few days."

"Poor Ginny. I wonder-" Hermione did a double take, understanding what Melanie had said. "WHAT?"

"Miss Granger?" Madam Pomfrey popped her head in. When she ascertained that, no Hermione wasn't being stabbed or something of the like, the mediwitch said, "Please refrain from shouting in the Hospital Wing."

"Sorry," Hermione whispered, cheeks red. Quieter, she said, "What? Exams?"

Melanie started laughing. "Just joking; they'll be cancelled."

"Not funny," said Hermione, pouting slightly. She was unsure whether to be relieved that she wouldn't have to cram study with only three days time or sad that there were going to be no exams. Hermione decided on being sad.

_Aw… No exams this year… Stupid Chamber of Secrets._ Just then, the door of the Hospital Wing opened.

"Harry? Harry! Harry, you solved it!" She jumped up from the bed and went to tackle-hug her friend. "You solved it!"

"Good job, you two," congratulated Melanie, grinning.

"What does being petrified feel like?" asked Ron.

Hermione and Melanie both shared a quick glance. '_Tell them later?' 'Yeah.'_

"Boring," they said together.

Madam Pomfrey came back into the room and tapped her foot onto the ground. "Do not upset my patients, Mr. Potter and Mr. Weasley." She was staring at Hermione, who was out of her bed.

"We weren't upsetting them," protested Ron.

"Besides, there's a feast now," said Harry. The four of them all turned to Madam Pomfrey, looking with pleading eyes.

"Oh, fine." Hermione and Melanie cheered. "But come back after."

Quickly, Hermione and Melanie went back to their respective dorms and changed out of the clothes that they had been wearing for months (in Melanie's case, more than half of a year). Apparently, it was supposed to be a 'pajamas' feast.

When Harry, Ron, Melanie, and Hermione entered the Great Hall, everybody burst into applause.

Slytherin won the House cup again, though that didn't dampen the spirits of anybody in Hogwarts. After all, Professor McGonagall announced that exams would be cancelled for the year ("Told you so, Hermione!" "…Aw."). Even better was Professor Dumbledore announcing that 'Professor' Lockhart would be unable to return as a professor the next year, as he would be regaining his memories (Ron and Harry shared a slightly guilty look at that). Even some of the teachers started cheering at that news.

When the feast was ending, Melanie hit Harry on the head.

"Ouch! What was that for?"

"Look who's coming," she said, inconspicuously pointing at Draco. "Be nice. You two need to get over whatever you're fighting about."

Harry scowled, but nodded in agreement. "I suppose we do." He stood up and went over to talk to Draco. When they finished talking, Draco walked over to sit by the four of them. He grinned at Melanie, who grinned back.

The rest of the school year passed by quickly. Only a few things were different from the previous year.

Defence Against Dark Arts was cancelled, something that not even Hermione missed (at least not the way Lockhart taught it).

Lucius Malfoy had been sacked as school governor, which was something that bothered Draco for a few days before he agreed that his father probably deserved it.

Ginny Weasley was happy, for the most part. There were still a few days when she could be seen with a panicked look on her face, but those days got more and more spaced out. What was best was that her shyness around Harry seemed to have eased a bit as she had a habit of spending most of her time around Harry, Hermione, Ron, Draco, and Melanie.

It seemed that in the blink of an eye, they were all on the Hogwarts Express, ready to go home. Making the most of the last few hours, they set off fireworks, played Exploding Snap, and practiced some of the spells which they had learned that year.

After learning that Percy had a girlfriend ("He has a WHAT?" "A girlfriend, Fred. Girlfriend, can you say that? Girl – friend." "Very funny, Ginny."), the Hogwarts Express came to a stop, announcing the return to their homes.

Harry handed Hermione a piece of parchment with a phone number written on it.

"Your aunt and uncle will be proud, though, won't they? When they hear what you did this year?" Hermione couldn't imagine them _not _being proud, but this was Harry's aunt and uncle they were talking about.

"Proud? Are you crazy? All those times I could've died, and I didn't manage it? They'll be furious!"

"They'll probably be furious that I couldn't stay petrified," Melanie added.

Together, the four of the walked through the brick wall which led to the Muggle world.

"Don't forget to send letters," Harry reminded them.

"Yeah. There won't be an insane elf blocking them this time," said Ron.

_At least, I hope there won't be. _With one last thought to turn her bracelet into an anklet, Hermione waved to her friends and walked up to her parents.

"Hermione!" her mom cried.

"How was the year?" asked her dad, wrapping an arm around her shoulder. Hermione shrugged it off playfully and handed her dad her trunk.

"Oh, you know. School, magic, owls swooping down on us; the usual."

"Anything special happen this year?" questioned her mom.

Hermione smiled. "Oh, not much."

**{A/N Whoo! That's their second year. :D Don't worry, next year will talk more about the bracelets. It'll be called 'The Potter Twins and the Innocent Ex-Convict'. I'll have the first chapter up next Sunday (I'm trying to spend a week without internet. D: At least mostly, anyways). I promise that the next year will be less reiteration because there's going to be quite a few chapters about the bracelets.**

**Thanks to everybody who read, reviewed, favourited, or followed. You're all amazing and having people read this is especially encouraging. Thanks to you all once again. P.S. I'm still not J.K. Rowling.}**

**~ScaleneGalleons~**


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